Birth Of A New Bond
by zcohen17
Summary: Alt Time Line story, 3 months after Pains defeat. Features the truth about the Uchiha Clan, Naruto and Sakura's relationship turning into something more, Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry coming to dramatic battle and much more. NaruSaku Lemon. Published Writer
1. The Final Meeting

_Dear Readers, this is my first fanfic, so here it goes I guess. This story is in an alternate timeline, after the death of Pain and Naruto becoming the hero of the Leaf._

_This first chapter however takes place towards the end of my story, so yes, most of this will be a flashback after this first chapter._

_Oh, and one last thing... I don't own Naruto, though sometimes when I'm all alone, and no ones looking, I pretend I do_.

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The cold rain beat across Naruto's face as he stood perfectly still atop the Hokage cliffs. Cracks of lightning lit the night sky and thunder filled the air. Usually, in these conditions, goose bumps would cover his skin as the icy water that now soaked his body. He should be flinching at the loud bangs from the thunder, yet he just stood there. The Number One Knucklehead ninja of the Hidden Leaf was numb to the world. He couldn't feel nor hear; his emotions had ceased. He just stood there, his blue eyes staring at the horrific scene below.

In the shadow of the rocky structure lay what use to be the Hidden Leaf Village. It was now unrecognizable as smoke billowed up from the ruins set ablaze by a mixture of red and black flames. Screams could be heard from the scared and confused citizens left alive. How could their village have been destroyed yet again?

Naruto felt his senses rush back to him as he felt the emergence of a dark presence behind him. Nostalgia swept over him as he knew the presence all too well. The two comrades stood there in silence for a couple of seconds before the new comer spoke.

"So here's the hero of the Leaf, all alone, just like a Jinchuriki should be," sneered a familiar voice. "You're standing in the way of my grand finale you bastard so I would move if I was you."

Naruto shut his eyes and sighed. "And what would that be Sasuke?"

"To cut down the faces of the five Hokages," the Uchiha said anxiously. "Then dispose of the potential Sixth Hokage and his so called bond with me."

"How could I be Hokage when I can't even keep our bond alive?" Naruto questioned as he hung his head. "But I have come to realize something about that bond..."

Sasuke could care less. He drew his sword and lunged towards Naruto. In five seconds he would have his head.

"I was always trying to save it..."

Four seconds.

"No matter what pain it brought Sakura and I..."

Three seconds.

"No matter what I said, you never budged..."

Two seconds.

"You even tried to sever it..."

One Second.

"And I've come to realize..."

Sasuke swung his sword at Naruto's neck with all he had. No one would stand in his way, no one would keep him from his goal and he would finally destroy this bond that had linked them for so long...

"I am the one..."

Sasuke's mouth fell agape. Naruto had caught his arm and was now holding it. Sasuke quickly shut his mouth and tried to regain his composure. He didn't understand, how could Naruto be that fast, it was impossible. Naruto lifted his head, orange now around his shut eyes.

"Who will sever this bond!"

Naruto opened his eyes and Sasuke's mouth dropped for a second time in utter fear at what he saw before regaining his composure.

"Mangekyou Sharingan!"

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_So there it is, my first chapter. I know it is kind of short, but its purpose was more of a prologue so it works out good for what I have in store... which is some frickin amazing stuff. For me this practically wrote itself, but anyway please comment. I want to know what you all think of this._


	2. The Beginning

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... Though I had a dream I did last night and loved it._

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"Where the hell is that boy?" Tsunade yelled. "It's bad enough I'm behind on mission assignments, but he has been pestering me ever since I woke up to go on a mission and now that I have one for him he is nowhere to be found."

Sakura shuffled back into the temporary building Yamato had specifically made for the Hokage. She looked at her sensei in disbelief, it had been no more than a week and she was already back in full force.

"Though I don't know how he will take it that all I have to offer him is a B-Ranked mission. He will just have to deal with it now; lets just hope that "Hero of the Leaf" thing doesn't go to his head."

Tsunade had been in a coma for the past three months and Danzo had taken over as an intern. Danzo didn't allow Naruto to go on missions, which of course drove him crazy. Around a week ago Tsunade finally woke up, and of course, Naruto was fast to demand his usual S or A-Ranked missions.

"Sakura dear, do you know where in the world that boy has made off to?"

"I'm sorry but I do not my Lady, I'll go find him right away," Sakura replied. "And I'll be sure to try to leave the B-Ranked part out of it."

As Sakura hurried out the office, Tsunade reached into her bottom drawer for her secret sake container. She had a feeling she was going to need it.

Sakura wondered where he could be. Usually by this time Naruto was being drug out of the office disappointed by Lady Tsunade's response.

As Sakura walked down the hall, she started listing places he could be in her mind.

Training? No, too early for him to be out on the training grounds.

Sleeping? No, too late for him to be in bed.

With Kakashi-Sensei? No, he was currently on a mission.

Sakura stopped suddenly and started to laugh to herself. She remembered Lady Tsunade talking to Yamato yesterday about the rebuilding plans. Yamato had been put in charge of rebuilding the village with his wood nature jutsu. Sakura heard him tell Lady Tsunade that today was no other than the day the district containing Ichiraku Ramen was being rebuilt. She hurried off to fetch her fellow comrade.

Sure enough as she approached the area where Yamato was working she spotted a boy in a orange jumpsuit with spiky blonde hair.

"You know, being your friends in itself is a hassle," she yelled to Naruto.

He returned her with a look of devastation.

"Why you have to be so mean Sakura," He pleaded. "I'm just waiting for the best place in the entire village to be rebuilt."

Sakura opened her mouth to counter this statement, but decided otherwise.

"Lady Tsunade has a mission for you Naruto."

Naruto's face became more serious at this, then filled with excitement.

"Well it better be a top of the line mission since she owes me three months worth for what that Danzo asshole put me through. I'm thinking an A or more appropriately an S-Ranked one."

"You take what she gives you and be happy with it," Sakura threatened.

The devastated look from before crept back onto Naruto's face.

"Gosh Sakura, I was just kidding. No need to get so uptight about it."

With that, the two ninja's headed towards Tsunade's temporary office.

...

Sasuke sat in the lobby of one of Orochmaru's old hideouts somewhere in the Land of Fire. He thought of the Hidden Leafs destruction and Madara's news about him failing his duty the Akatsuki had assigned him.

He had been so close to the Leaf Village just to find out he was too late.

It didn't matter though, he would have his revenge. The village might lie in rubble but, the people were alive. He would soon take his revenge on their lives and the Hidden Leaf as a whole.

He then thought of Madara's warning. Madara didn't say Sasuke couldn't go after the Leaf, he actually encouraged him and told him the Akatsuki were laying low for a while and that they wouldn't interfere. Madara also said that he didn't think Sasuke, even if the Leaf wasn't already destroyed, could do it. That Nagato's failure was brought on by an extremely powerful ninja... Naruto.

Sasuke laughed to himself. Naruto might have become powerful, but no where near Sasuke's level. He thought back to there fight at Valley of the End. He was able to beat him then. He also ran into him while training for Orochimaru, and was able to see the Kyubi Naruto had inside him. This occasion made Sasuke even more sure, as Naruto was miles behind Sasuke at that point. Though Naruto beating the head of the Akatsuki did make him wonder...

He was suddenly was brought back earth by Karin and Suigetsu's arguing. They were going on about whatever.

Sasuke suddenly got to his feet. His three followers watched him as he walked out of the room.

"I'm going on a walk; I'll be back in a bit."

"I'll come with you," Karin called to him.

"No, you stay here," Sasuke answered. "I want some time to myself to think about our next move."

As he exited he could here Suigetsu mock Karin. He shut his eyes and shook his head.

"Hopeless."

Outside, an ANBU Black Op's member watched the missing-nin emerge from the hideout. He whispered into his radio.

"Target on the move, I have him in my sight."

"Is that so?" Came a voice from behind him.

Sasuke was behind the ANBU member and before the highly trained ninja could react, Sasuke made his move.

A high pitch screech pierced the air that sounded like a thousand birds. The ANBU member fell to the ground before he could react. The other three members surrounded him.

"Give up, we have you surrounded," said the one to Sasuke's right. "We have orders to bring you back to the Hidden Leaf."

Sasuke was caught by surprise. He had been labeled as a missing-nin since Danzo took over, so why are they not trying to kill him, but just capture instead?

"So, what with the change of tactics?" He asked.

"Lady Hokage wants you alive."

"Is that so? So she survived after all, huh."

A voice came from behind him, "Earth Style: Vine Chain Imprisonment."

Vines wrapped around Sasuke. What an annoying task, Sasuke thought. He sent a Chidori current destroying the vines. Sasuke then signed quickly.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu."

Fire erupted from his mouth towards his opponent. Sasuke pulled his sword and went back to work.

Within minutes, four dead ninja laid at Sasuke's feet. He flicked his sword to let the blood fly off, and then sheathed it. As he walked back towards the base he heard a familiar poof sound. He turned to see that one of the ninja bodies had turned into a log.

"Shit!" he swore out loud.

It was no use chasing him; the ninja was probably half way back to the Leaf by now. He hurried back inside.

"Time to move," he called to the others. "And hurry, time is of the essence."

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_So done with chapter two, also short, but I plan to make them longer as I go. Comment please and tell me what you think._


	3. A Mission Of Hope

_Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto, at least thats what my counselor told me._

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"I am terribly sorry to report this to you but, I was the only one to make it back my Lady," spoke a masked ANBU member. "The target, Sasuke Uchiha was successfully located like you asked. But after sensing our presence he attacked. The mission was compromised which at this point we acted accordingly to your orders but, to no avail."

"Is that so?" Tsunade asked as she put her head in her hands. "Well I am glad I decided to send you, I had a gut feeling you would be useful."

"Not useful enough my Lady, three of my comrades are dead and Sasuke got away."

"I'm sorry, but you know as well as I do that it wasn't your fault but, I know this must be hard. You haven't lost a member since... Well we both know"

"Don't worry about me my Lady, I'll be fine."

"If you say so, and please take that mask off. I know I sent you as an undercover ANBU member, but I have to deal with those emotionless machines all day long so seeing a familiar face could do me some good right now."

The ninja removed the mask to reveal a rather lazy looking silver headed jonin. A scar ran down his left eye, which he kept shut as if he was hiding some sort of secret power behind his eyelids. His mouth and nose were covered by fabric.

"Thank you Kakashi, much better," Tsunade said seeming a bit less gloomy. "So tell me, just how far has Sasuke come?"

Kakashi took a second to answer, trying to search for the right words. After a long pause he inhaled and began his assessment over his former pupil.

"He has grown like we thought he would under Orochimaru, no telling what unorthodox drugs and training he went through, but yet there is more to it. He fights as if he was twice his actual age. He seems to have experience far beyond what he should. He read the battle, manipulated it just like he wanted to and ended up in almost total control..."

"Well with the Sharingan, that is to be expected," interrupted Tsunade.

"Well yes, I would agree, if he had used it."

Tsunade's brows raised and a different look took form across her face. She sat forward and started biting at her nails nervously.

"That far huh? Well him not activating it would explain why the replacement jutsu worked so well I guess," Tsunade concluded as she sat back in her chair. "Did he recognize that you were one of the ninjas scouting him?"

Kakashi leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and looked up to the ceiling as if he was searching for an answer somewhere among Yamato's handy wood work.

"I don't think so. I didn't talk nor use any jutsu with my replacement that he has seen me use before. By the time I released my jutsu, I was already about a mile away. He couldn't of read my chakra from that range, especially with me repressing it."

Tsunade sighed in relief; at least there was one good thing. She reached for the bottom drawer and poured herself some much needed sake. She offered some to Kakashi but he declined. She didn't mind, more for her.

There were a few moments of silence between the two as Tsunade drank. After a minute or so she broke the silence.

"In your opinion, what are the chances they are still at the base?"

"Knowing Sasuke, almost none."

"What about traces we could follow them by?"

"Fading fast."

"How soon would you need to be there to follow them effectively?"

"Tomorrow by noon at the absolute latest."

Tsunade sat back in her chair to reflect. She turned and looked out the window as if to hide herself from Kakashi.

"With this being Sasuke and how he dealt with the earlier team, I need to be careful in my decision on who to send," Tsunade spoke out loud. "Am I right in assuming that Kakashi?"

"Yes my Lady."

"And they need to be deployed right away if I'm correct in my thinking."

"That you are my Lady."

"Well then I have just the team for you Kakashi."

"And who would that be?"

Right then a knock sounded at the door. Before Tsunade could even tell the guest to enter the door swung open and in walked Naruto and Sakura.

"Hey Grandma, so you finally got a mission for me?" Naruto demanded. "Preferably a S-Rank. I won't do anything under an A as you know. After three months I deserve something special though, like a super top secret mission."

Sakura was ready to beat some sense into that stupid yellow headed brat but then what Tsunade said made her freeze up.

"Sure thing Naruto, I have a perfect S-Ranked mission for you to go on right here."

Naruto was quick to respond.

"I said none of that kitty shit Grandma, that mission isn't for... me... wait, what did you say?"

"I have a S-Ranked mission right here for you, unless you don't want it..."

"No I was just kidding, I want to. You knew I was kidding, right Sakura?"

Sakura just turned and shook her head in embarrassment. When was he gonna grow up? He had saved the village from utter destruction at the hands of Pain, but he still acted like he was back at the ninja academy. Though she did admit it made her laugh and cheered her up a lot of the time.

"Alright, you will be going with Kakashi here and Yamato."

At the mention of his name, Yamato rose from the floor behind Tsunade.

"So us four as a team you say," Yamato asked.

Tsunade returned his question with a nod and a smile. Yamato seemed to have more questions but before he had the chance to ask any, Naruto interrupted.

"Ok, ok, I get having both of them on the team because it is some kind of S-Rank mission, but there is one thing that doesn't add up at all... Why is Kakashi wearing those weird clothes?"

Naruto somehow dodged the paper weight Tsunade threw at him, but wasn't so lucky for Sakura's punch.

Kakashi was still in his ANBU clothes from the mission before. The black and grey armor just didn't suit Kakashi. Naruto was use to his usual green flak jacket and blue uniform. He had also never noticed the tattoo on Kakashi's left shoulder...

"Kakashi has those clothes because of a special mission he went on. It is one that has allowed you to embark on the one you are about to go on," Tsunade said. "But enough fooling around and straight to the point, we now know the location of Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto's face turned from a goofy smile to serious as he got up. Sasuke... He was going to get another chance to bring him back. He could fulfill that promise he made Sakura so long ago. He looked at Sakura and could see the same determination.

"But this time is a little different then the times in the past," Tsunade said. "This time if he doesn't come back willingly, you have my permission to kill him. This also goes for any other villages that may see him as he is a threat to the very fabric of our system."

"WHAT!" Naruto and Sakura shouted at the same time.

"You have got to be shitting me, how in the world is that fair Grandma..."

"What are you saying sensei? If Sasuke does come back, will he be put on trial? What if..."

Tsunade stood up from her desk, throwing her fists into the wood, effectively breaking the table clear in half. She returned their surprise looks with a death stare. They instantly quieted down, but she could tell they still weren't happy.

"Not the desk I made," Yamato whined. No one really paid attention though as Tsunade seemed like the much more interesting person at the moment.

"You think I wanted this? He killed three leaf ninjas and attempted to take one more," Tsunade said in a boisterous voice pointing to Kakashi. "Sasuke is no longer just a run away from the Leaf, but he has attacked us. You will bring him in dead or alive, I don't care which. But you _will _bring him back, no matter what. If not, I will be forced to send an assassination team."

There was silence for a few moments before Naruto broke it. Sakura could see him shaking as he asked.

"Is that true Kakashi-Sensei? He tried to kill you?"

The silver head man closed his right eye and nodded.

"Yes Naruto, it is. I'm sorry."

"I see."

Tsunade took a seat, breathing heavily. She wasn't the only one. Sakura was trying her best to hold back the tears from falling out and escaping down her face. Naruto could see Sakura was fighting a losing battle and the last thing he wanted to see was her cry. He couldn't understand this though. Why now? Whatever the reason he wasn't going to let it get in the way of his promise to Sakura. He cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"I do not care if the Hidden Leaf Village and everyone else has decided to turn their backs on him, I refuse to follow suit. I'll bring him back here alive, and no one or nothing can stop me."

Tsunade looked up from her desk surprised. Naruto could feel Sakura's eyes on him. All he wanted to do was make it ok for her.

"He will be back in the Leaf Village alive by the end of this mission, still breathing. I don't care what happens, the day I become Hokage, Sasuke will be at my side."

Everyone just sat there at a loss of words. Sakura looked at Naruto as he turned to walk away. She had the urge to cry before his speech, but now, she just felt confident inside. Like she could place everything on Naruto's shoulders and it would all be ok. She had never felt anything like this before. It must be true, this time they really are going to get Sasuke back.

"That boy, making speeches before he gets the mission details or anything," Tsunade said. "Be sure to tell him to meet at the front gate at 1 p.m. please."

"Yes my Lady, I'll be sure to relay him the message," Sakura said. She then turned to the other two in the room, smiled and said, "Well I'll see you at 1 p.m. Kakashi-sensei and Captain Yamato. I have to go get ready."

With that Sakura left the room, feeling better than ever. Finally she was going to get her Sasuke back.

Back in the office Yamato turned to the others.

"You sure about this? It seems a little careless."

"Lighten up Tenzo, It'll be fine," Kakashi said.

Yamato eyes grew and he began to blush.

"Don't call me that, you know that I am known as Yamato for now. It just seems your putting them in a situation where their emotions will cloud their judgment."

"I wouldn't worry about that Yamato," Tsunade said as she got up to look out the window. "It is that same emotion that will drive them to never give up on him, no matter how dire the situation is."

Tsunade looked to the sky as she spoke. She remembered when she first met that brat. A loud mouth punk who just went on and on about becoming Hokage. The nostalgic memory felt warm like the hot rays of sun that now rested across her face.

"Naruto mean't what he said. He is strong enough to deliver on that, I know. He is the only one that can do this. It is his ninja way, just like Master Jiraiya's. We must have faith in him Tenzo, I mean he has already saved all our asses once."

"You are right in what you say Lady Hokage, I just was worried... Wait, did you just call me Tenzo? My name is Yamato!"

* * *

_Thank you guys so much for reading so far. Trust me, it is hard to write quality stuff when you know in a couple chapters it is going to get real interesting. This chapter and next I think are more set up chapters before we dive into the real action. While this is my longest chapter yet, keep expecting them to grow. I drew out an outline on how I would like my chapters to go and it looks like 36 chapters is my goal for right now. That may grow or shrink, it just depends. Thank you guys for reading and add this story to your favorites or story alerts if you like. I am very ADHD so I don't have much of a pattern for how I post new chapters. Also review if you can. I love hearing back, no matter what it is. Well hope you guys enjoy._


	4. Passing Thoughts

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but if I did, my life would be complete (minus the mansion, Ferrari, pool full of Jello, etc.)_

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Sakura swiftly made her way to Naruto's makeshift tent. She was still swept up in the feelings he had given her earlier with his speech.

She still for some reason felt this time it was going to be different. It might have been the look in Naruto's eyes, or the way he said it. She didn't know but at this moment, Sasuke seemed closer than he had in a long time.

As Sakura approached Naruto's temporary tent (his apartment building was one of the last districts to be rebuilt on Yamato's list) she heard him talking. Curiosity took over and an evil smile snuck across her face. She stealthily peeked in to see Naruto's back turned to the entrance. He was holding something.

"We are going to get you back buddy, I promise this time. Sakura, Kakashi-Sensei and Captain Yamato are gonna bring you home."

Sakura carefully slipped into the tent being careful to make as little noise as possible. She snuck up behind Naruto and peered over his shoulder. He was holding the old team 7 picture. There were drops of water on it though. Sakura realized Naruto was crying.

"We will get him back this time, won't we Sakura?" Naruto said in a more confident voice.

Sakura froze up a little surprised that she had been discovered. She smiled and sat down next to Naruto. He wiped his face trying to hide his tears from her. She smiled and put her hand up to his cheek to wipe off one he missed. Naruto turned bright red, which would usually make Sakura laugh, but for some reason a sudden feeling in her stomach made her feel a little flustered. She retracted her hand and looked down at her lap, feeling her cheeks get rosy.

"Hey Sakura, are you okay?" Naruto asked as the normal color returned to his face.

"Yeah I have been feeling a little weird lately," she replied. "Oh, by the way we are meeting at 1 p.m. at the front gate, don't be late."

As Sakura turned to leave she felt something tug at her shirt. She turned around to see Naruto's shoulder. Without warning she felt Naruto's body against hers. His arms were around her shoulders and her cheek rested perfectly on his shoulder. She felt the ground leave under her and warmth take over her body as she closed her eyes, accepting this feeling of comfort.

"Uhhh, Sakura... What are you doing?"

Sakura opened her eyes to see her eye level with Naruto's thighs. Looking around she realized that her legs had given out and she was now collapsed in the middle of the tent. Her face felt hot as she looked to the ground and began to talk.

"Naruto..."

"Yeah Sakura?"

Sakura brought her fist forward and hit Naruto square in the stomach sending him flying. He landed about twenty yards away, tents tangled with his body, confused at what he had done wrong.

"You did that after I told you I wasn't feeling right," Sakura yelled.

He rolled around for a couple seconds trying to get freed up. After a minute or so he emerged to see Sakura watching him laughing.

"Well thanks for helping."

"Awww, I'm sorry, did the future Hokage get his ass beat by a tent?"

Naruto said something under his breath before asking if there was anything else she wanted to mess up. Sakura said no, wished him good bye and sped off, leaving Naruto to prepare for the mission in relative peace.

"Why is she so mean?" He said out loud to himself.

Naruto had successfully put his tent back up after about ten minutes. As he packed his various ninja tools he couldn't help but wonder what was up with Sakura. He wasn't surprised about her hitting him, but before that is what bothered him. She had collapsed, literally, right in front of him. Her face had been a worse color than her shirt.

"I hope she's not sick," he said to himself as he finished. "Well I have some time, I wonder if Ichiraku Ramen is open yet."

Naruto took off to seek some of his favorite food before his trip.

...

As Sakura made her way back she was deep in though. What was that back there? She had never done anything like that in front of Naruto. Sasuke maybe... that was it. It was the prospect of Sasuke coming back. Being able to see him again. She smiled and continued back, putting the thought to the back of her head and letting her mind wonder. She didn't really notice it, but for most of her way back, her mind had her in Naruto's arms.

She arrived at her house and packed her things quickly. She hurried to prepare everything nicely. They didn't know how long they would be gone for so she packed some extra clothes. After she was finished she realized that here was plenty of time to spare. A quick nap should help she thought. She set her alarm for half past twelve. She shut her eyes and thought of Sasuke. As she slipped into her dreams though, thoughts of a different ninja entered her head.

...

Sakura and Naruto arrived at just about the same time at the front gate. They were about ten minutes early so they were in no hurry as they arrived. Sakura was still happy from her constant thoughts of Sasuke and some great dream she had, though she couldn't remember what it was about exactly. Naruto on the other hand looked like he had just got news he had cancer.

"What's wrong with you," Sakura asked Naruto happily.

"Ichiraku Ramen isn't finished yet," Naruto whined. "All I want is an extra large bowl of..."

Naruto was interrupted by the arrival of Yamato. They went on talking for a while, waiting for a certain silver haired ninja. About 15 minutes later, Kakashi walked up, book in hand. Kakashi greeted everyone and Naruto was the first to jump on his tardiness. Kakashi used his usual tactic of some excuse about an old woman and groceries, which they all knew was code for reading Make Out Tactics. After some Kakashi bashing they set off, Kakashi in the lead. The two jonin talked about the state of the village as they traveled, but Sakura and Naruto were both quiet. They had one thing on their minds, Sasuke Uchiha.

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_Well I know I said they would be getting longer, but this one just seemed right to stop here. I hope you enjoyed this one, it is setting up one interesting story. What should I do with it from here? Like I don't have it all planned out lol. Well thank you for reading, I hope everyone enjoyed. Please review, love feedback._


	5. Reflections

_Sorry this one took longer to put up. My computer was acting up and it took it forever too get to work again. Then as soon as I did that, the internet went down across campus. So after much stress here is the next chapter._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto... or do I... oh wait, I don't._

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"We should start looking for a place to set up camp tonight," Kakashi yelled to the others.

The group had traveling for about six hours straight now. The sun was going to be setting soon and the team was exhausted.

Kakashi's warning violently awoke Naruto's daydream of a certain pink haired girl. Unfortunately this caused him to lose his balance and miss his branch. As he fell down a couple levels he spotted a perfectly placed branch. Holding his hands out to swing off it back up to the others level he made a big mistake.

"CRACK"

The next thing Naruto knew, he hit the ground hard with the branch in his hand. Pain shot through his back as he groaned in pain. It wasn't that bad, but the thing that hurt most was his pride. Opening his eyes though, he saw that the humiliation wasn't over. A swarm of bugs were currently advancing on him. He began flailing his arms as the bugs swarmed all around him.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."

Naruto felt a hot wave of air sweep over him as burnt bug remains showered down on top of him. For a second he thought Sasuke had performed the jutsu, but quickly realized it was just the famous Copy Ninja. As he got to his feet and wiped himself off, Naruto realized everyone was giving him a weird look. As Naruto opened his mouth to ask what was wrong he caught a waft of something foul.

"Oh shit, what is that smell," He exclaimed covering his nose. "It's awful."

"That wasn't just any swarm of bugs," Yamato said as he examined the discarded branch Naruto had pulled down with him. "Those were stink bugs and you seemed to have destroyed there home. That smell is there defense, they sprayed you. Also, the burning of there bodies probably doesn't make it smell much better."

Kakashi made a sly smile lifting his hand.

"Sorry about that Naruto."

"It's not your fault," Naruto said in frustration. "I was daydreaming and let myself miss an easy jump. If it's anyone's fault it is mine."

"There is a river not far from here," Yamato informed them.

The team made their way with Yamato in the lead and Naruto in the (far) back. The team came to the river and made their way down the bank looking for an opening. They passed a spot on the river where the water flow was much more tranquil than the rest. Naruto made a mental note of the perfect bathing spot in his mind as they continued down to an opening.

They arrived at a nice little paddock. Yamato stopped here and let everyone gather.

"Ok, I'll set up camp, Kakashi you should scout the area, Sakura you can whip up some antidote to take care of smell and Naruto... you sit tight."

Everyone shook their heads in agreement. Sakura set out to find the supplies for her anti-stink creation and Yamato turned to perform his Wood Style: Four Pillar House Jutsu. Naruto slumped down and lowered his head in disappointment. He hated not being able to help with anything. Kakashi saw his sulking and decided to try to cheer him up.

"Hey Tenzo, make sure to set up an extra room for smelly over here."

Naruto could tell what he was trying to do, but it would have worked better without the smelly part. Then Naruto realized what Kakashi had done. He looked at Yamato's shocked face and smiled from ear to ear. Kakashi took off before he could hear Yamato's rant, but Naruto remained there, smile and all.

"So captain, Tenzo doesn't sound nearly as tough as Yamato," Naruto joked with the still speechless captain. "I see why you changed it."

"Maybe someone should go wash up and try to get that smell of death off them before I makes that smell match their current state of being" Yamato said sporting his signature creepy face.

Naruto didn't need to be warned twice as he hurried off to the spot he had made a mental note of.

...

Sakura had found all the herbs she needed to make a substance to cancel the reek Naruto had so gracefully obtained. It took her no time to crush it up into a liquidly gel substance ready to spread across the body.

She emerged from the forest, concoction in hand to find no one in the opening. She had expected to see Naruto waiting for her but he was nowhere to be found. The house was up but she knew Naruto wasn't allowed in till he had washed. She remembered a spot on the river not far from them where it seemed to be a perfect bathing spot. She had also seen Naruto eyeing it and decided thats where he probably was, getting ready to bathe. She ran down the bank, that now shined beautifully in the reflection of the gorgeous setting sun, to help her fellow comrade.

As she rounded the corner of bank that she knew led to the bathing spot, she could smell the stench coming from behind a little grove of trees. She made her way around them and came to the opening where Naruto must be waiting for her.

"Ok here's the gel that you need, you just need to..."

No one was there. The smell was coming from a pile of orange and black clothes sloppily discarded. Before Sakura could put two and two together she saw something about twenty yards away in the river.

There was Naruto, butt naked, standing up in about knee deep water. He was facing away from her, washing his hair. She studied is finely sculpted back and ass for a moment before coming to. Sakura knew the polite thing to do was advert her eyes, but before she could he turned around revealing himself to her. She was transfixed by the site she saw. The setting sun hitting his engaging soft skin just right as the beads of water running down his body outlined his powerful build perfectly. As he ran his hands through his hair, Sakura could see his biceps contract and release. She had seen him shirtless before, but not like this. Her eyes carefully analyzed from his chest down. His stomach was perfectly chiseled like a statue of a God. His hips met his thighs in a bewitching "V" that led to his commendable manhood. Her eyes stopped there as she stared at it. She had never seen one before, not even through her medical ninjutsu training with Lady Tsunade. Something about it made Sakura feel... well... different. Her mind wondered to places she never knew existed. A sensation crept though her body as she leaned against a tree for support. She decided she enjoyed this feeling. It felt as if nothing could ever ruin this moment.

"You know spying on fellow comrades is ever a good sign," came a voice from behind her. "Especially if they are in the nude."

Sakura jerked her body around, dropping the bottle of gel to the forest floor, to see a smiling Kakashi standing there, reading his usual book. Sakura's mind raced as she tried to not only thing of a viable excuse, but try to recover from her former state of mind.

"I was... um... you know... just..." Sakura shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "This isn't what it looks like. I came here to give him my remedy and I was just wondering how to approach him."

Sakura could feel her face burning from what she thought was probably a bright crimson glow. Kakashi picked up the bottle she had dropped and examined it. He then turned to Sakura.

"I'll give it to Naruto for you," he said happily. "Now go back to the house and get ready for our meeting over a strategy for tomorrows mission. Yamato should be expecting us back anytime now."

Sakura, wanting to be any place but here right now agreed with Kakashi. She turned to leave quickly, but turned back to ask her sensei a favor.

"Please don't tell Naruto about this Kakashi-Sensei, I don't want things awkward for tomorrows mission."

The one eyed ninja smiled.

"Don't worry Sakura, your gawking is safe with me."

...

Naruto returned smelling as good as new. He was sad that he had to throw out his old suit, but he had packed plenty of replacements. He made his way upstairs to the strategy meeting. They were waiting on him so he decided it was best to not keep them waiting (no matter how bad he wanted to whip up some quick ramen).

During the meeting, Yamato went over his plan and explained the following day's protocol. Yamato would be teamed up with Kakashi and Naruto with Sakura since if on the off chance if Sasuke was there, the medical ninja would be with Sasuke's main target.

Naruto's team would go first, being careful of any traps, the other two following them up. If they ran into trouble, Naruto's Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu would give the others enough time to catch up and counter attack.

After the meeting and some dinner, they turned in for the night. They had to get up early the next morning to get to the hideout in time. As they dozed off into sleep, Sakura couldn't help but thinking about the day's events. The feeling she had... the almost hypnosis like effect of his body... his body. Before long, these thoughts manifested themselves into a dream, one she wouldn't remember upon waking the next day.

* * *

_I didn't want to do two chapters like this in a row, but I couldn't bring myself to include the mission in this one because, well, you will have to see, though I am just excited to write about it. Those of you who think you know where this whole Naruto and Sakura thing is going, hold on. Next chapter will throw a huge twist into that. _

_I also had a hard time describing a sexy male body (some lady reader, please tell me how I did) for Naruto._

_ I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please stay tuned for the next chapter, shit is going down. Review please, I am a feedback whore._


	6. The Hideout

_This chapter has given me all sorts of hell but it's complete. I hope you like._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or a witty thing to say after it because I'm ex__hausted._

* * *

"I want you," Sakura whispered in Naruto's ear in a sexy low purr. She then started covering his neck with sensual kisses. He moaned in response as he thought of how this craziness had all started.

_flashback..._

The team had gone to bed in their separate rooms that night like usual and Naruto passed out almost instantaneously. He was then woke a couple hours later by Sakura, who had somehow snuggled up next to him. It took Naruto a minute to gage what was happening as he couldn't believe it wasn't a dream.

"Ummm, Sakura, what are you doing?" Naruto asked as the pink haired beauty lay next to him.

"I had a dream about us just now," she said to him in a hushed but happy voice. "I can't remember what it was, but I was with you, in this spot. It was the most wonderful dream and all I want to do is remember it with you."

"What do you mean?"

Sakura gently pulled his collar towards her and slowly pushed her lips into his. Naruto would have sat there dumbfounded for the rest of the night if he hadn't had Sakura's mouth beckoned him to return the favor. The kissing went on for longer than Naruto knew he could, yet long enough. The same thought kept racking his mind throughout though, what changed in Sakura to do this?

_end flashback..._

Sakura was apparently done with his neck as her mouth gently bit at his collarbone. Naruto shivered as she worked from his shoulder to his chest, where she took a minute to explore his muscular build with her tongue. Naruto couldn't help but letting out a groan as she descended down the center of his torso, sucking his skin at every stop. He could feel himself ready to burst in his boxers as her tongue danced its way down past his belly button. Her hands ran down from his shoulders, tickling his sides as they went, to his last line of defense. She pulled them all the way down to his ankles and stared at what she had uncovered. Naruto felt nervous, as she was just looking at his package. The silence got too much for Naruto and he opened his mouth to say something, but luckily for him, Sakura's mouth was quicker. She was now caressing his erect member with her mouth. The only thing that came from his opened mouth was a shutter from the pure bliss and disbelief. She worked her way around down there, sensually exploring every part of him with her tongue. She then got up, removed the lacy panties she had on and laid on her back. Her legs opened as if to invite him in. Naruto's eyes grew in amazement.

"Are you sure about this?" He whispered in her ear cautiously.

She gave him probably the sexiest look he had ever seen. Taking the back of his neck by her hand, she pulled him close. Before she even uttered a word though, her other hand successfully snuck down his groin and surprised him. As he bit his lip and tilted his head back in pleasure, Sakura whispered to him the best thing he had ever heard.

"All I want right now is you and no one else."

He felt all kinds of feelings he couldn't explain as he positioned himself above her. All he knew though was he loved them all. Looking into her eyes he smiled and said what seemed to be right at that point.

"I love you so much Sakura."

Her face lit up as she smiled back at him. Lifting her face to Naruto's, who was sporting a grin a mile long, she put her cheek to his and whispered in his ear.

"I love you too, Sasuke."

She laid back down as happy as could be. Rosy cheeked and full of all kinds of emotions that were too good for words.

Naruto on the other hand had the color and emotion drain completely from his face. He sat there no words to comprehend what had just happened. He looked at the still happy Sakura.

"What did you just call me?"

"What do you mean?" She said playfully back to him.

"I am asking you what name you just called me," he said raising his worried voice to her as he felt tears start to rush down his eyes.

"I called you by your name," Sakura cried now looking worried too. "What is wrong Sasuke? Was it something I said?"

Naruto sat up, looking at his body. It wasn't his. He turned his head away from Sakura, who had never caused him this much pain before. His eyes met his reflection in the window and he paused at the horror he saw. There looking back at him was Sasuke Uchiha, who smiled back at him.

"She will always love me. You are nothing more than a friend, and that is all you will ever be."

Naruto shot up in his bed, drenched in cold sweat as his heart beat at a hundred miles per hour.

It had been a dream he reassured himself as he got to his feet. It had seemed so real though. He hurried over to the window to look at his reflection. The face of a whiskery 16 year old blonde met his eyes. This reflection didn't say anything to him either as he took a deep breath. It really was just a dream. Naruto decided to pack his things and head outside to wait for the others. He didn't want to go back to sleep and with about an hour till sunrise, he just wanted some fresh air to try to clear his mind.

Naruto had been planning to ask Sakura on a date last night. Naruto had sealed away a picnic basket and blanket in a scroll and had wanted to have a private picnic by a peaceful river. Instead he had spent the majority of the time wiping bug guts out of his hair.

He sighed heavily and tried to think of something else, but the dream just kept popping back up. It was just a dream he told himself, she couldn't possibly still have strong feeling like that for Sasuke. He had been with her through all the tough times since she left and was closer with her than anyone else. Still he couldn't get the thought out of his head. Always just a friend.

...

Sakura walked out the front door stretching her arms into the cool morning air. The sun wrapped her body in it's warm rays as it peaked over the tops of the trees. She took a second to appreciate such a fine morning before spotting her friend all alone. Naruto was sitting at the base of a tree, staring into space. Carefully, trying not to disturb his train of thought, she slid down next to him.

"What are you doing over here all alone?"

Naruto shrugged.

Sakura frowned at his reaction. Something was off about him. It was a beautiful day like this and yet one of the most positive people she knew was not in a good mood.

"Are you okay? Come on you know you can tell me anything."

"Yeah I'm cool, alright," Naruto said defensively. "There is nothing to tell you."

"Okay."

They sat there in silence for a while just listening to the morning sounds. Naruto felt guilty for ruining her mood out of his own insecurity. He wanted to know so bad if she liked him the same way he liked her.

"Hey Sakura?" Naruto asked as he rose to his feet. "Will we always be friends?"

Sakura looked at him curiously.

"Yeah, why?"

Naruto turned and smiled at her.

"Just wondering."

Naruto headed back towards the house to get his stuff in order, leaving Sakura there by herself.

A few minutes later Captain Yamato called everyone in to go over some last minute planning before they set off.

As they left the camp area Naruto took up the rear. _We will always just be friends_ Naruto thought to himself.

...

The cave entrance was no more than a crack in the side of a cliff. Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura surveyed the entrance from about thirty yards away. Yamato appeared out of the face of the steep decline and onto the side of the cliff. He looked around for a minute before signaling the team. Naruto and Sakura were the first to go. They quickly jumped out into the open, then back into the cover of the cave. A couple seconds later the other two followed suit.

The cave was barely big enough to go two at a time. They walked for what seemed like hours to Naruto. Finally, a light shined through the darkness somewhere ahead of them. Kakashi stopped Naruto and nodded at him. Naruto got the message.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

With a poof of smoke the clone was off towards the light. They waited in silence for a few second till Naruto felt the experience come back to him.

"It is just halls as far as I could see, no booby traps and no sign of anyone."

Yamato nodded and they continued towards the light. The halls were layered in yellow bricks and the walls adorned with torches. Beside the occasional door, there was no decorations or anything.

Once there, Yamato gave both Naruto and Sakura a seed to ingest in case they were in trouble, he could find them. After swallowing the little yellow seed, they split up into their preselected teams and went their different ways.

For a while Naruto and Sakura stealthily entered each room to look for clues but, it became apparent real quickly that they had nothing to fear. The rooms contained nothing more than beds in them.

After a good while of searching empty rooms they came to a hallway that didn't resemble the others. The walls themselves resembled actual cave walls and water covered the ground. There were no torches on the walls leading down the dark void so seeing what was ahead was impossible. Naruto and Sakura exchanged nervous looks, then shook their heads in agreement. Naruto grabbed two torches, handing one to his partner and both continued down the dark tunnel. The deeper they went, the more cavernous it became. After about ten minute, the underground route opened up into a big open area covered in water. The only possible route was across a bridge to a big metallic door.

"Well i guess we know where we need to go," said Naruto as he ran across the bridge carelessly.

Before Sakura could stop him she heard something.

"Click."

Naruto had tripped a switch sending kunai's flying at him from each direction. He acted fast making his signature hand sign.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Eight clones appeared around him, turning their backs out and taking the kunai's in their backs.

"Poof."

The clones disappeared and dropped the kunai's into the water around him. He smiled at Sakura with that sheepish smile of his.

"My bad."

Inner Sakura wanted to pound him but she for some reason just let it go and shook her head.

"You need to be more careful okay," she said smiling. "But if there is a trap, guarding this door, which must mean there is something behind it."

They advanced carefully, reaching the door while not setting off any more traps in the process. The door had all sorts of weird symbols and levers. Naruto reached up and pulled down a red lever. Above their heads they heard some shifting followed by a crunching sound.

"What is that sound?" Naruto asked, looking above them.

"It sounds like..." Sakura's eyes grew. "A boulder rolling toward us."

Before Naruto could even respond, she pushed him out of the way. The boulder came shooting out at Sakura. Naruto watched in slow motion as the rock hurdled towards Sakura's back. At the last second, a green glow engulfed her right hand, turning, met the boulder head on. It shattered into many pieces as she stood there, frozen in her pose, gasping for air.

Naruto got back up to his feet and nervously rubbed the back of his head. He opened his mouth to apologize but Inner Sakura got the best of her this times and hit Naruto upside the head. After berating him for a minute, they turned their attention back to the door.

"How about this one..." Naruto's suggested.

"It is my turn to try," Sakura said quickly, trying to avoid another boulder or kunai show. "I will try to not be as careless as you though."

Naruto had a look of mixed feelings as he stepped off to the side. What she said was true, but she didn't have to put it that way. He did have to admit though that Sakura would probably be better at this thing than him though. Puzzles were never really his thing, nor anything real complicated for that matter. Naruto came to when he saw Sakura adjusting her gloves. She must have solved it he thought.

"WHAM!"

Sakura had punched the doors full force, sending them flying into the dark room. Naruto's mouth dropped as he looked at his hypocritical comrade.

"So that's being safe?"

"Well no traps were sprung so yeah, it was pretty safe."

The two stepped through what was left of the door frame. Inside they saw a dimly lit circular room. The room was a little smaller than the roof of the old Hokage building in terms of circumference. Straight ahead of them was a door with two torches to either side that lit the whole room.

"Well there's the door," Naruto said as he started towards it.

Sakura quickly tried to step in front of him to keep him from doing something stupid. As she took her first step into the room, she felt her feet tangle and plummeted to the floor face first. Her head hit the ground hard and everything went black.

She cursed under her breath as she came to. Her head was throbbing with pain as she brought her hand to her forehead. She felt a warm liquid.

"Blood?" she questioned as she got to her feet.

Sakura looked at the red liquid that was on her hand. As she reached into her hip pack something in the room caught her eye. Looking to the center of the room, fear took over and Sakura began to screamed. There stood Orochimaru, who appeared to be made out of liquid as from his knees down were just a puddle. How could this be Sakura thought, he was supposed to be dead.

"Well, look who we have here," spat the dripping figure in front of her. "The old team is back together huh, just like good days."

Sakura stood there scared and confused. The old team? Back together? Him alive?

It was at that moment Sakura noticed something. The puddle that Orochimaru was standing in had light blue things slithering into it from both sides of her. She realized they were snake's, but not live ones. They were made out of what appeared to be some sort of energy. She followed the snakes route backwards to her right to see it led to a heap of something about seven yards behind her. It was too dark to make out but a rough outline of the objects. She looked back to her left to see another heap on the ground, about the same distance from her as the other one. She realized that the puddle under Orochimaru was being fueled by whatever the things behind her were.

Sakura quickly took three kunai's and threw them at Orochimaru. The metal tools flew through the air and hit her target square in the chest. Yet they didn't stop there. The three instruments went right through him and hit the wall behind. Sakura's eyes grew in confusion,

"Oh tisk, tisk. It is useless my dear," Orochimaru hissed.

Sakura felt her panic growing. What was happening here?

"What are those things? How are you alive? Where's everybody? Why didn't my attack work? Where..." Sakura's yelling interrupted by an obviously annoyed Orochimaru.

"Well look for yourself at what those "things" are my dear," he said as he pointed behind her.

Sakura turned to see one of the heaps moving. It raised upright and balanced itself. She realized it was a person. As the figure walked into the light she saw it was Naruto. Thank God he was all right. She suddenly froze at the earlier words of Orochimaru, _old team_. She turned quickly to see Sasuke staggering towards her. It took her a minute to get over the fact that after so long, he was standing right there. Snapping out of her mini day dream, she realized she still had no idea what was going on. Her two teammates seemed as they were in a trance. Neither of them spoke to her as she tried to question them. Orochimaru could tell that this was going nowhere and decided it would be easier to just enlighten her.

"Let me explain this situation to you little girl," Orochimaru said, impatience beginning to show. "I have perfected, with the help of Kabuto, a new jutsu that is slowly bringing me back to life. These two are my sacrifices. As we speak there chakra is being funneled into me."

Sakura felt terrified as she watched the snakes emerge from the two men's chests and dance across the ground to the puddle.

"The only way to save their lives is to stop my flow, which isn't easy. You can pull them from their spot, but they'll have their whole chakra networked ripped out. You can't sever or block the flow of chakra or the trapped excess chakra trying to escape will cause their bodies to overload and their hearts to give out. There really is only one way to save a life in this situation and keep me from coming back," Orochimaru said with an evil smile. "You have to kill one of them. That way the natural flow of the energy will be discontinued and the Jutsu will be broken."

Sakura felt a sick wave come over her stomach. She had to choose between her two comrades. She couldn't do that, not after they had finally been reunited. It was impossible. If she didn't though she would risk endangering the whole ninja world. If she didn't do anything, they would all three die for sure.

"There has to be another way than choosing whether to kill Sasuke or Naruto?" She said in a desperate attempt to get something out of the man being born right in front of her eyes.

"There isn't girl," he hissed at her. "And I would hurry if I was you, in another minute or so both will be dead and don't think I will spare your life."

Sakura saw that the top of Orochimaru's feet had now started to show. She looked back and forth, trying to decide. She couldn't think clearly, all this stuff that had happened was fogging her head. She saw one of Orochimaru's feet leave the puddle. The other was one toe away from being complete. She had run out of time, she had to act now.

Sakura pulled out a kunai knife, shut her eyes, and followed her heart.

"I'm so sorry Naruto."

* * *

_Well there it is, cliffhanger I know. Hope that not to many of you want to kill me now. This chapter was a pain to write but I am glad it is done. Tell me what you all think, review please. Hope you all enjoyed._


	7. Death

_Okay, so I know this one isn't long and I am sorry. The next chapter I would have combined with this one, but it just didn't go well together. Good news, I'll have the other one out pretty quickly. So here it is, I hope you enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I might know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy whose brothers with another guy that knows who does. Wow, I need sleep_.

* * *

"Why you have to be so mean..." Naruto said. The next part he choked on as the blood began to run down his cheek from the corner of his mouth.

"Sakura."

He fell to his knees, and then with a thud, fell face down onto the cold stone floor. Sakura's hands shook as she stared at the kunai that had pierced his chest. Blood dripped from the sharp edges of the cold steel. She fell to her knees and dropped the knife to the ground and began to shake as she lay over her comrade's body. She needed to heal him, but she couldn't seem to move. Why wasn't anyone there to help her?

"Sasuke," she cried lowly, then shouting louder. "SASUKE, HELP ME... please."

She turned her head to where he had been, but saw nothing. She sat up and looked around. The room was empty. No Orochimaru, no Sasuke, just her and Naruto. The tears just came harder at this. She knew that whatever the reason was, it didn't matter. The other two were gone and she had no way of knowing where they went. The only thing she had control over was Naruto's life. Sakura raised herself back off his chest and took a deep breath. She tried desperately to control herself as she placed her hand over Naruto's heart to begin healing. As her hand produced the chakra flame, she got a picture of the situation.

She had hit a vital spot and punctured the heart, but she would be able to heal it as the puncture was only minor. She just needed to focus on the task at hand. She tried to steady her hand to the best of her ability and concentrate on his life force. She smiled as it was still strong. Feeling much better with the knowledge that she knew she could heal him, she decided to make a "medical analysis" about his clothing. His shirt was sort of in the way and it would really be much simpler if it wasn't such a hindrance. With her free hand she took a fresh kunai and cut the front of Naruto's shirt to reveal his sculpted torso. She ran her free fingers along his muscles. Before she knew it, her mind had wondered off in thought.

She was really falling for him. She hadn't admitted it till now, but it was true. The irony made her chuckle; she couldn't realize she loved him until after she tried to murder him. He really was something though. He had always been there to cheer her up with his understanding (and occasional lack of it). He believed in her, even though he was much stronger, she was always his equal. Then came the fact that he was always asking her on dates. Looking back, she started to wish all those no's were the other way around. It was settled; she would start treating him better from now on and maybe even go to Ichiraku with him. No, she would definitely.

A sound behind her stirred her out of her day dream. Captain Yamato and Kakashi had just arrived. They were breathing hard as if they had run the whole way.

"I sensed Naruto's life force in danger," Yamato said as he wheezed for air. "What happened?"

Sakura looked down in embarrassment. She didn't know how to put it exactly.

"I kind of... well... stabbed him," She said shyly.

The two jonin looked at each other with bewildered looks. Sakura was quick to try to reconcile what she had just said.

"But it wasn't like a really meant to... Well I did... But it was to save his life... Oh I don't know," Sakura said in frustration. "I'll explain later. Right now I need to heal him, but he will be okay afterwards."

Sakura focused her hand back on his life force to see how close he was to being fixed. Her heart dropped as she felt his remaining strength. He was on the brink of death. Sakura started to panic as she tried to heal him with all she had now.

"What's wrong?" Kakahi asked as he noticed her change in attitude.

"I don't know, he isn't responding to my chakra. He's dying Sensei."

The other two watched in horror. There was no way for them to help. They were useless as all they could do was sit there and watch Sakura as she tried everything, but Naruto just kept fading. After another panicked minute, his breathing ceased. His heart no longer beat so she desperately began to thrust against his chest. The blood from his wound squirted out as she did. She tried again while covering it, but with no luck. The blood just escaped around her fingers. She started mouth to mouth but by this time it was a lost cause. After a couple minutes of her breathing into Naruto's lifeless body, it was quite apparent Sakura couldn't breathe life back into Naruto. Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder. Feeling this made her realize he was really gone. She kept her faces a couple inches above Naruto's as she cried.

"That's enough Sakura," Kakashi said as he turned away to hide his own tears. "He's gone."

Yamato fell to his knees, then to all fours. How could this happen, he had just saved the leaf from sure destruction three months age, and now he was just gone. He looked up to see Kakashi, the usually poised and lacking of visual emotion lean against the wall, facing away from them. He was suppose to be the one to surpass the Fourth Hokage.

Sakura sat there, her face still only inches over his. Drops of water now covered Naruto's cold lifeless face. She couldn't believe it. The man she had come to love had just died right in front of her, at her hands. Sakura began to sob harder than she ever had before.

Naruto Uzumaki was dead.

* * *

_Well hope you enjoyed, thats the end of my story... Nah, I'm just kidding. I think we all know I couldn't end it like this. Will have next chapter up soon. _

_Thank you everyone that has submitted reviews, they help a lot when I am stuck (or putting it off when I should start already). I love them and will respond to any that you will post (If you are gonna take time out of your day to do that, least I can do is the same for you)._

_I am glad to see that people are enjoying this story, and I hope you enjoyed this short little chapter. _


	8. Shallow Grave

_Ok, I would first like to thank TheOmegaMan for helping me with this chapter. He will be helping from now on with some of the dialogue. So read this chapter and I hope you enjoy it._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I wished for it last birthday. Didn't work._

* * *

The sound of dripping water resonated through Naruto's ears. Opening his eyes he saw pipes above him, leaking drops of liquid into the body of stagnant water around him that measured about knee deep. Naruto knew this place all to well. He was even familiar with the position he was in as he laid there floating on his back. He was in his own inner world, but why?

"I see you're awake boy," growled an evil voice. "About damn time you lazy brat."

Naruto sat up to see a cage with a tag sealing away what he knew to be the nine-tails beast, Kyubi. Naruto rolled his eyes as he climbed to his feet. Most people would be scared of this, but for Naruto, it was just an annoyance having to deal with this creature hell bent on destruction of everything around him. He walked closer to the cage to see the fox's eyes and mouth appear behind the bars. He was smiling as if he was happy for some reason.

"What's up with you," Naruto said, making sure to add an extra tone of annoyance.

The beast's eyes narrowed at the kid's lack of respect for him.

"You have grown arrogant and let your victory over the Rinnegan user go to your head. That damned dojutsu is almost as bad as the Sharingan."

Naruto was about at the end of his rope for patience. He had never wanted to see Kyubi again after his battle with Pain, though he knew that was unrealistic. The demon was a part of him, and no matter how big of a pain in his ass, he had to live with it.

"That doesn't answer my question, why am I here."

The ominous figure started to laugh at this.

"You don't want to hear my answer, trust me, but I might as well tell you," the fox said as if he was enjoying this. "I mean, I guess you have the right to know that you're dead."

Naruto's eyes widened. The last thing he remembered was being stabbed by Sakura. It had been weird, as she started acting strange as soon as they had entered that room. She was saying things that didn't make any sense. Then, she said something about choosing between Sasuke and him. After that, he was stabbed for some reason. None of it made sense to him though.

"Now you're starting to remember, huh" Kyubi snarled at the dumbstruck ninja. "Never much of a thinker were you."

"But this makes no sense," Naruto argued. "If I was dead, that would mean you would die also. You would never let that happen."

"Maybe there is some hope for you," Kyubi said snickering at his own joke. "Medically your dead. Your heart has stopped beating and you're no longer breathing. However your mind works, so I still live."

"Well what happens when my mind dies too."

The demon laughed.

"As long as I'm alive, you won't die. I only let you get this far for one reason," Kyubi explained. "To remind you that you need me. I don't care how strong you become, you are still naive. You let your guard down and the girl you loved killed you. Without me, you would be dead..."

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled as his anger boiled over. "You know nothing about what happened you stupid fox. She didn't try to kill me."

"Really? So stabbing you was just her way of showing affection?"

Naruto didn't respond. He didn't know what to say to Kyubi's response, but he knew the demon was wrong.

"She chose Sasuke over you. You heard her say it yourself," Kyubi continued. "She doesn't love you. Look at how she treats you most the time, I bet she doesn't even like you that much. She's always mean to you. She is constantly talking down to you. You will never be more than friends to her. Sasuke is the one she loves, not the Jinchuriki. She will never love you, yet you still believe she will. How stupid can you be?"

Naruto had started staring at the water below him. The drops of water that were now dripping down weren't from the pipes.

"Take me back, I want to go back to Sakura," Naruto said, trying to control his crying.

"You make me sick. You want to go back to the girl who picked a traitor over you, then tried to kill you," questioned the nine-tails. "I can't believe that damn Fourth Hokage locked me in a loser like you. I mean..."

"Shut the fuck up you low life bastard!"

Naruto had stopped crying and his knuckles were now white and blood started dripping from his palms due to the fact he was gripping his hands so hard in rage. The pipes stopped leaking around him and the water at his feet started to bubble. Suddenly the water started giving off orange steam that flowed into Naruto. Kyubi watched in curiosity as this phenomenon took place. Naruto looked up at the fox with his face contorted in rage. His eyes were now red and fox-like. The whisker like marks had grew thicker and his eyes and mouth became outlined in black. He was controlling the nine-tails chakra in his own subconscious. All of a sudden the boy disappeared, then reappeared in the Kyubi's cage, right in front of him. The fox's eyes widened in surprise. How was he that fast and strong to make the nine-tail fox demon lose sight of him, then get through his cage without breaking the seal.

"How are you doing this," Kyubi said angrily. "This is my domain, you're just a visitor to me boy."

"Wrong you arrogant bastard," Naruto yelled back. "You are the visitor. This is my domain. This is my inner world and here you play by my rules. I am in control of you, not the other way around. From here on out I will use your powers as I see fit, which means not at all."

Kyubi looked in amazement at the boy. His eyes narrowed i anger as he knew the boy was right.

"You have gotten strong boy, there is no doubt about that. If only you would learn some common sense."

"Shut up."

"Fine, but I have one more thing to tell you. Think of it as a final request by me, but for the good of both of us," Kyubi said in defeat. "Kill Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto looked at him in disbelief.

"What did you say?"

"I said kill Sasuke Uchiha."

"Why would I listen to you?"

"Because you are an idiot like most humans and feel the need to love," said Kyubi. "You want Sakura to love you, don't you?"

Naruto looked at the fox suspiciously.

"Why would you care?"

"Because, if there is one thing I hate more than being stuck in you, it is being used by others like Madara did sixteen years ago," Kyubi said. "You want the girl, I want Sasuke dead. We share a common enemy."

Naruto laughed at the demon.

"I am starting to think you are the naive one," he said. "Sasuke is my best friend; you know I would never kill him. I will bring him back to the village and he won't control either of us."

Kyubi sighed. He had known this would be the answer the boy would give him.

"There will be a day when you need to kill Sasuke, and you will need some other power than mine to do so," the nine-tails said. "Hopefully you will find an answer so we can both live."

"Why are you telling me this."

"Because as much as I hate it, I have to put faith in you.."

* * *

_So there you go. Next chapter will have more answers for you guys. I hope you enjoyed. _

_I got this one out pretty fast (It is kind of like a chapter 7.5, but it just didn't fit in with the other chapter.) _

_Please, please review, I love them. I will have the next chapter out as soon as possible._


	9. Secrets

_Sorry it took so long for me to post, school this past week has really kicked my ass so far. Four tests in two days, plus paper due so I had to do that. This one was fun to write once I got around to it. This is about the length most of my chapters from here on out will probably be, maybe a bit longer. So with out further adieu, here it is, chapter nine, Secrets._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but once I take over the world and rule it, Naruto will be the first thing I take over._

* * *

Naruto felt himself in a similar position as before, on his back staring at the ceiling, but this time it was different. He was no longer was looking at the dripping pipes of his inner world, but the cavern ceiling above him. Someone was laying against his chest as he craned his neck to see who it was. All he could see was pink hair that made him smile. He blushed at the contact between them. Her warm cheek rested perfectly on his bare chest. Her left hand was under his shoulder, grasping the top of it and her other hand rested on his left lower stomach, really close to his hip. He could feel one of her legs between his, pressing against him.

"Hey Sakura?" Naruto asked as he sat up, resting on his forearms. "What happened to my shirt?"

Sakura sat up quickly, her eyes shrink wrapped in tears.

"NARUTO!" she yelled as she flung her arms around him, knocking him flat on his back again.

Yamato and Kakashi looked in amazement as they grouped around other two. Sakura remained on top of him, her arms around his shoulders, crying into his neck. It seemed like forever until she finally let go. Tears were still running down her cheeks as she looked down at his chest and gasped. The wound started to steam orange vapor, then healed itself instantaneously.

"So the nine-tails saved you, huh," said Kakashi in more of a statement than a question. "That would explain why Sakura couldn't heal you. Its chakra rejected hers."

They both stood up together, helping each other as both were still a little dazed. Then, without warming, Sakura threw herself into Naruto again. She began yelling hysterically into his bare chest.

"I'm so sorry. There was Orochimaru's, and he had you and Sasuke. He was absorbing you; I had to cut off the chakra from one of you. I had to... I wanted... oh Naruto, I don't know what happened, I chose..."

Naruto cut off her rambling as he put his hand on her shoulders, pulling her even closer. He didn't want to hear it, to hear her say how she picked Sasuke over him. He held her there, hurting the whole time.

"It is okay, I understand. You couldn't help it.

He let go of her shoulders, as she wiped her face with her arm. Naruto looked at Kakashi.

"You have any idea about what happened?"

The Jonin nodded and pointed to the ground. The stone floor had some sort of carving in it. Naruto studied the shape of the carving. There were three circles, one took up most of the room, one was a lot littler than the rest and hollowed completely out in the center and finally, was the one between them. The middle line had three separate shapes equally spaced apart. Naruto gasped as he realized what it was.

"Is that a Sharingan?"

Kakashi sighed and nodded.

"It seems Sasuke was able to put Sakura under a genjutsu with this."

"How is that even possible?" Yamato asked.

"It seems Sasuke has developed some sort of lingering genjutsu by storing some of his chakra in this carving," Kakashi explained to the other three. "Whoever steps into the diagram first is caught in his genjutsu."

No one talked for a while as they all examined the floor. Kakashi bent down and felt the carving. Had Sasuke really grown this powerful? This was something not even Itachi could have done, leaving chakra behind to trigger a complicated genjutsu at a high enough level to where Sakura would fall victim to it and have no idea. Sakura on the other hand felt embarrassed. She had been caught in the trap that her former comrade had laid. She had been the one to trigger the genjutsu that forced her to stab Naruto.

"I'm sorry Sakura," said Naruto, breaking the silence and her thoughts.

"For what?"

"Well you only stepped in it first because you were trying to get in front of me to stop me from doing something stupid," he said gloomily. "You should have never been put in that situation. It was my fault you had to choose who to stab."

Sakura felt a wave of relief come over her. She was so relieved by this she didn't notice the face Naruto made while saying the last sentence. He was still bitter about her choosing Sasuke over him. Things were still just like they had always been. Looking up again, he made eye contact with the pink haired ninja. She gave him a big smile, clearly happy that he wasn't hurt by her favoritism. He sighed and held back all the things he really wanted to say.

"It's ok. It wasn't all your fault, I'm to blame too."

Naruto tried to return the smile, then reached down and picked up his torn shirt that now laid, dirty and blood stained. He looked at it in disappointment.

"Another shirt that I lost. That's been two in the past couple days."

Sakura turned away from Naruto to hide her face that now matched her hair. She liked him better without the shirt anyways. If only she had to cut off his pants for some "medical reason." Sakura felt her face get even hotter as she realized how perverted her previous thought was.

"Did you guys ever see what's behind the door by the way?" Naruto asked to the group.

Without even answering, Kakashi walked to the door lazily with his hands in his pocket. Everyone watched as he tilted his head, analyzing the door for a second. He then without warning took his hands out, signed, and lifted one of them to his mouth.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu."

The others watched in horror. There was no telling what traps it held, and this would surely set them off. The fireball flew towards the door. At the last second, it stopped in front and began getting sucked in the key hole. After a couple seconds the fire had disappeared into the tiny space and left everyone expecting some type of explosion or something. After a couple seconds the silence was broken by a faint sound.

"Click"

The door creaked open just a tad and Kakashi looked back at every one and smiled.

"It's open."

"How did you do that?" Naruto bellowed to his old sensei in amazement.

"It's a secret."

"No it's not; you just don't want to tell me."

Naruto's outbreak caused Kakashi to chuckle. He was so happy he hadn't lost one of his students. He would probably never tell Naruto just how much he cared, but Naruto was special.

"Fine, ruin all the fun. The door wasn't locked with a key, but sealed with a jutsu. It being done by a Uchiha, the only way to open it was with their signature jutsu," Kakashi explained. "Sasuke obviously didn't expect anyone else to be able to unlock this."

The team all made their way to the door. Beyond the hinged barrier revealed a long set of steps that disappeared into the darkness. Kakashi pulled his headband up revealing his own Sharingan.

"I will lead the way; make sure no traps are waiting for us."

The descended down the stairs, Kakashi in the lead, followed by Naruto, Sakura and Yamato in the rear. The stairs went down, even farther into the earth. They were constantly curving right in a spiral towards the earth's core. No one talked as they descended slowly into the darkness. After about five minutes of nothing, they saw a light and shortly came to a hall way. It looked just like the other ones in the main base. The path was made of yellow bricks and lined with torches. At the end of the hall was a door.

The team slowly made their way to it, Kakashi still in the lead. He held up two fingers, signaling for them to take their positions. Yamato moved past the others and planted his back on the wall next to the door. Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura remained behind, taking to one knee. Yamato shook his head, signed, and put his hands up to the door.

"Wood Style: Wood Camouflage Jutsu."

His hands turned the brown of the door as they started to sink into it. His arms, then shoulders, and eventually the rest of his body, were absorbed into the mahogany office door. Now there was three of them left, sitting there in the quiet, waiting. Naruto couldn't wait. They were so close to their goal, and yet they were just sitting there.

"What are we waiting for," He questioned angrily.

Before Sakura could even turn to hit him, the sound of clicking filled the room. The office door unlocked and swung wide open for the team. The light from the hall filled the room, revealing a pretty big office, packed with desks and cabinets. Sand was spread across the ground, covering the entire floor. The walls were green with many charts hung up that featured anything from hand seals to diagrams of the human body.

"No one's in here, and the place seems to have had no contact with outside life for quite a while," reported Yamato. "There are quite a lot of cabinets and desks that we need to search though."

"Then what are we waiting for," Naruto said happily rushing in. "Let's find Sasuke."

"Settle down Naruto, I am pretty sure he isn't hiding in a desk drawer," Sakura said giving him a smile as she entered the room to.

"Yeah well..." He managed to stutter out before being interrupted by a certain one eyed ninja who was already digging through a nearby desk.

"For being so confident, you sure are slow on the uptake."

"Ugh, you guys suck."

With the Naruto bashing out of the way, the team began searching for any clues. The cabinets and desks were full of papers, none proving of any use. Most contained scientific notes of the human body or early stages of some evil jutsu. After about ten minutes or searching, Naruto came to a box filled with files. As he lifted it up to set on a desk when noticed the sand being parted by something. He felt the bottom of the box and found a wire connected to it.

"Ugh guys, what's this," He asked as he pulled the wire before the others could stop him.

From the middle of the room the sand parted, revealing a solid layer of explosive tags beneath the sand. The center one disconnected from the rest. As it flew past Yamato he read the "fuse."

"Oh shit," he said as he signed. "Wood Style: Multiple Flower Submarine Jutsu."

The tags beneath the sand lit as four sets of multiple columns of wood wrapped around each ninja, covering them in a pod like container. The one column connecting the connected with each individual pod rose to the ceiling, propelling the four containers up through the earth. Naruto could hear the explosions below them as the wooden pod began to shake. After a few seconds it stopped and the only movement was the pod traveling towards the surface. After a couple minutes the movement stopped and the wood began to unwrap its columns. The cold night air kissed the nape of his neck as his pod unwrapped. Looking around he saw the other three emerging from what looked like a very big wooden flower.

"Nice touch Yamato," Kakashi asked as he adjusted his own neck.

"It saved your life, so I wouldn't be complaining," Yamato said as the team met in the middle of the wooden flowers. "What you make of that Kakashi?"

"Well Naruto tripped the trap," Kakashi said as Naruto's face turned red. "But it wasn't really his fault."

"It's not?" said Naruto and Sakura at the same time. Naruto shot Sakura a look, but she ignored it.

"No, it probably means that he was just the one to find what we were looking for, right?" Yamato asked Kakashi, who shook his head in agreement.

"Yes, whatever was in that box was probably what we were looking for," Kakashi said in a disappointed tone. "And whatever was in that box is now buried under a couple hundred feet of earth."

Naruto began to laugh, causing the others too look at him in confusion.

"Oh, you mean that old thing?" He said, pointing at his wooden flower.

Tangled on one of the columns was the wire from the trap. The box was stuck between in the gap between two of the "petals." Hanging by it was half the tag that set off the explosion, still smoking.

"I don't get what the big deal is though," Naruto said. "All it said on it was Hidden Rain Village."

* * *

_So there it is, and a new jutsu for Yamato and I am running out of shirts for Naruto. Well tell me what you think and please, please review. I answer all reviews I get, even if it is just a thank you. I also may give you a hint about future chapters if I am feeling generous (which looking at some stuff I have told people on here is a lot)._

_I don't know for sure when I will be able to get the next one out. School is starting to get serious and I am having a lot more work. I will try to get it out as soon as possible though._


	10. Mixed Feelings

_Sorry, I know I told some people it would be out sooner but this chapter gave me hell. Not to mention I read a story (my cardinal rule not to do) on here and that slowed my writing. It is a good story so far but I refuse to say what it was because in five chapters it has more reviews than mine does at nine (Revenge Upon The Avenger by TheOmegaMan (or to me dialogue guy)). So I am sorry about delay but I hope to have another chapter in by the end of the weekend._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, though I am currently searching for loophole to change that._

* * *

"The box contains various records of the village," Kakashi said to the team as they sat around the fireplace in one of Yamato's cozy houses. "Which is surprising. The Hidden Rain Village has had a heavy isolationist policy for quite some time. Information like this could not have been easy to come by."

"Then that's Sasuke's next destination," Yamato continued. "He wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of getting this information and protecting it just to have it as extra notes. We also know that some are about three months old."

Yamato held out little note book with the title "Bingo Book" written across it. Naruto took it and began flipping through the pages.

"Page 17 I think..."

Naruto had already stopped on that page and was now staring at the familiar face of Nagato. It had all his information, even about his techniques and six separate bodies.

"This is the real Pain," Naruto said in a raised voice of amazement. "And his picture is crossed out, which means..."

"That this was compiled after you defeated him," Yamato said.

"I see, so if this is where Sasuke's headed, we shouldn't be wasting time. Let's get going." Naruto said.

"Wait Naruto," Kakashi said as he got to his feet. "The Village Hidden in the Rain is a three day trip, going full speed. We should rest up tonight so we can start out nice and fresh tomorrow."

"That reminds me, tonight's sleeping arrangements are a bit different," Yamato announced to everyone as him and Kakashi started to inch towards the stairs. "In turn for my jutsu earlier, I was low on chakra so I had to downsize as you may have noticed."

Looking around Naruto noticed that it didn't appear any smaller. The only difference he noticed was that looking up the stairs; he saw only two doors instead of the usual four. The size didn't look any different though.

"We only have two bedrooms so Kakashi and I have one and you two have the other," Yamato said to the two as he and Kakashi made their way upstairs. "We'll see you two young, healthy and sexually curious ninjas tomorrow."

"Huh, I don't get it," said a confused Naruto who then turned to a day dreaming Sakura. "Do you Sakura?"

"Huh? What about Sasuke?" She said as she had been thinking about Sasuke at that particular moment.

Naruto turned away, feeling anger as he looked to try to take some out on the other two. He was too late though.

The two jonin disappeared behind their door before either of the other two could get another word in edgewise. The door literally disappeared after that, turning into the wall that surrounded it.

Kakashi and Yamato who were long-time friends shared chuckles as they put their belongings away. Yamato thought back to the days of him and Kakashi serving on ANBU together. Kakashi, being four years his senior, had guided the young and naive Yamato through many missions.

_flashback..._

"Targets on the move, coming up to your position Tenzo," a bird-masked ANBU member said in his radio.

"Roger," responded the nervous ninja.

He didn't really like his name he was given, but he couldn't really complain. It was his first mission for the ANBU forces and he wanted to make a good impression and prove to everybody he was more than just hype. He had been the talk of ANBU lately with his wood style. Many welcomed the change from all the rumors flying around about a secret force among ANBU led by Danzo Shimura. His thoughts were thrown aside by the approaching footsteps. He waited. When the target was about fifteen yards away he jumped out, signing while in the air. As he landed he held one of his arms out.

"Wood Style: Silent Strangulation Jutsu!"

Several wood tendrils sprang from his arm and shot at the oncoming ninja. At the last second the opponent threw multiple smoke bombs.

"Too late," Tenzo said as he made a snatch for the target in the smoke. "Gotcha."

Retracting the tendrils, he looked at the man he had caught only to see it was a dummy. Dropping it he turned around to see the opponent coming at him from the opposite direction. He had his sword out and had Tenzo caught defenseless. Shutting his eyes Tenzo waited to be impaled.

"You can open your eyes now," came an unfamiliar voice. "You are no good blind."

Tenzo opened them to see Kakashi Hatake, with his katana driven through the opponent. Turning his head, the silver haired ninja laughed. Tenzo joined in nervously not knowing this would be the first of many laughs they shared.

_end flashback..._

Yamato smiled at the thought of his first mission, an utter failure of one. From then on though his record turned out to be almost spotless. In fact, he had the best performance record of anyone in ANBU while serving under the Third Hokage.

"I hope you didn't make things too awkward for them Tenzo," Kakashi said as he laid down in his bed. "I think we might have overdone it a little."

"First, stop calling me that," Yamato snapped, "And second, it was you're idea anyways, I just created the house and the atmosphere."

"Well in that case I have a feeling they'll be moving their beds to opposite sides of the room."

"Oh, they won't be."

...

"What the fuck is this?" Naruto exclaimed loudly as he opened the door to the room.

There were rose pedals spread all across the floor, nearly four dozen lit candles scattered all around the room and finally one bed in the middle, with a canopy draped over it. The bed was very light pink, almost white and from the looks of it, was covered with silk sheets.

"Those perverts, once I get my hands on them I swear..." Naruto angrily rambled on as he went around the room blowing out candles, kicking the rose petal to the side and finally ripping the canopy from over the bed and throwing it in the corner.

Sakura on the other hand just sat there, her mouth agape. She couldn't believe those two, she wanted to go punch through the wall, drag them out and beat them to a pulp. In all truth she would have, but the thought of sleeping next to Naruto made her heart skip a beat. She could feel her face turning red like the rose pedals she was now probably a similar shade to. She tried to settle down as she had to play this off just right to make it seem like she didn't want to, but in actuality she didn't mind. Formulating the words to say in her head, Sakura took a deep breath and interrupted Naruto from his ranting.

"That's enough Naruto, I guess we are just gonna sleep together."

Naruto's face drained of color as he looked at Sakura. His eyes were wide open and mouth open even wider. Sakura could feel the rose color returning as she tried to think of something to say. It had come out all wrong and she didn't know what to say to fix it. With nothing coming to mind she decided to do the only thing she knew how to... send Naruto through the wall. With one swift punch, he went flying to the other side of the room.

"What did I do?" He asked as he picked himself off the ground. "You were the one that said it."

"Well... you know what I meant," She lied angrily.

Sakura knew it wasn't his fault, but she didn't want to admit it. She had said something stupid and he took it like anyone else would. She actually wanted what she said, maybe not in the most literal term, but she did want to lay there next to him, safe and warm against his body.

"I guess I got ground then," Naruto said angrily as he threw his stuff in a corner.

She felt bad all of a sudden. She hadn't wanted it to go this way, she had messed it all up. She didn't want awkwardness between them; she wanted him to comfort her. She didn't want him on the floor; she wanted him in the bed with her.

"No, Naruto, we will both sleep here tonight," she said in the gentlest voice she could muster up.

Naruto looked at her in surprise.

"No it's fine Sakura," he said. "I'll be fine"

"No, please Naruto, I wa... I think it's ok if we share a bed," she said carefully correcting herself to avoid another awkward moment. "We're friends and have been through so much as teammates, I think sharing a bed is no big deal."

Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but decided against it. He nodded his head in agreement and decided to go get ready to turn in for the night. He used the bathroom first to shower and change into his pajama's. Sakura followed and showered up as quick as she could. She then changed into her sleeping gown as fast as she could. She only stopped to look in the mirror to make sure everything was good for Naruto. She even pulled down a little on the neck to reveal more cleavage. She smiled at what she saw, messed with her short hair one last time, and exited the bathroom.

"All right, what side..."

Naruto was laying on his side, back to her, breathing peacefully. She frowned in disappointment and walked over. This was what she was afraid of, him falling asleep before she could do anything. She was careful to not make much movement as she tried to sneak between the sheets. After settling in, she closed her eyes and tried to relax.

"Were you saying something?" Naruto asked, making Sakura jump a little.

She hadn't expected to hear his voice till morning. She wasn't all too sad about it though, as she smiled knowing Naruto couldn't see it. She knew that it was now or never to make a move. Kakashi and Yamato, no matter how perverted their intentions were, gave her the chance to show him just how much she cared for him. Nervous as hell she took a deep breath.

"I was just going to say how I should probably check your wound before you doze off," Sakura lied.

"I thought the Kyubi took care of it?"

"He did, but I just want to be safe."

Naruto shrugged, he knew Sakura was a highly skilled medical ninja; it just seemed a little odd to check his wound right now. Not wanting to argue he unbuttoned his top to reveal his strong torso. Sakura ran her hands from his belly button to his chest, giving him the chills. She stayed on his chest for a while but then started moving around. Naruto didn't know what was going on but, refused to look her way. It was probably some weird medical ninjutsu thing that if he asked, he would get an answer he couldn't understand. Her hand started massaging his collar bone which made him tremble a bit, then the warmth of her grip traveled up to his neck. She then pulled, making him face her. She had moved closer, and was now staring with her emerald jewels into his eyes.

"What are you doing Sakura?"

"Taking you pulse, why?

"Just wondering."

Sakura looked longingly into his eyes as Naruto felt his stomach twist and turn. He was uncomfortable, yet couldn't look away. Some part of him wanted this. As her hand moved from his pulse spot to his cheek. That part of him that had wanted this for so long took over. As she shut her eyes and leaned in, tilting her head, he obliged and followed suit.

Naruto could feel the comforting warmth from her lips on his. They matched movements as they seemed to dance in unison, pushing harder into each other. The dancing got more intense as they began to suck at one another's mouth. She bit his bottom lip lightly, making him moan a little. Then, without thinking, he tried to force entry to her mouth with his tongue. To his surprised she obliged as he tasted her sweet tongue against his. He held her cheek as he explored her mouth. She did the same with him as he could feel her tongue search every place it could reach in his mouth. After what seemed like forever they separated, gasping for air.

Naruto looked at her face, now bright crimson red and smiled.

"_She will always love me. You are nothing more than a friend, and that's all you will ever be,"_ came a voice in his head from no other than Sasuke.

"_You want the girl who picked a traitor over you, then tried to kill you,"_ came a second voice from his head, this time from the nine-tails demon.

His smile faded as he began to think about it. It made no sense, they were just friends. He loved her sure, but she couldn't love him. She chose Sasuke over him, not the other way around. Why was she now doing this to him?

"What was that?" Naruto asked Sakura in a serious tone.

Sakura lost her words for a second in surprise due to his manner. She was happy as could be and he looked mad.

"You didn't like it?"

"No it's not that," Naruto said. "I mean why did you do it."

"Well I thought you would like it, and well..."

"Yah?"

"I love you."

She turned away in embarrassment at these words. She knew he liked her, but she had never told him this.

"No you don't," Naruto said making Sakura turn around in disbelief. "We are just friends, remember?"

"What are you talking about? I just said I love you and this is all I get?"

"Well it isn't true."

"It isn't true?"

"Like you said before, you love Sasuke and we are just friends."

"I never said that."

"Well you might as well have," said Naruto as tears began to run down his face from the pain he was feeling. "You show it at every opportunity you got."

"I used to love him, but I don't..."

"Really? You don't love him."

"NO, I love you," Sakura said raising her voice as tears began to come out. "I realize you mean more to me than I ever thought possible."

"Did this happen just now when you were giving me my medical check up?"

"No, it's been since we met, little by little. I just realized it over the past few days."

"As we were going for Sasuke," Naruto said, now feeling his self control begin to slip. "So really you are just confused and using me."

"What?" Sakura said as she started to cry.

"You don't love me. You just finally figured out that Sasuke isn't coming back to you."

"That has nothing to do..."

"Oh really? Then why have you at every chance since the start of this trip proved to me that you still love Sasuke?"

"When did I do that?"

"Downstairs earlier, our talk by the river and let's not forget the cave."

"The cave?"

"You stabbed me, not Sasuke," Naruto shouted as tears stream downed his face at a record pace. "You picked him over me like you always do."

Sakura's eyes grew as it all came together.

"No I didn't..." was all she managed to choke out through her tears before being cut off.

Naruto couldn't help himself. He was so hurt by the things that she said. Every little thing she had done to him, all the times she was mean to him for no reason, surfaced. The times in the academy where she would join in the ridicule alongside the other classmates. When they were on the original Team Seven where she would completely ignore his attempts to please her for Sasuke. All the dates she turned him down on. The river, the meeting downstairs and the cave. All of it just boiled over as Naruto let himself go.

"You don't love me, and you never have. I'm the one that's been in love, ever since the first time I saw you. Yet you went after the person who probably cared the least about you. I did everything I could for you, yet you still pick him."

"No Naruto, it's not that..."

"I mean, I don't know if it's because we are so close to Sasuke and you know that this is it. You may never see him again if we fail, so I am your insurance blanket in case things go to hell for you. I mean shit; you're just toying with me after all."

"Naruto, please..."

"And after all this I know if Sasuke walked in here right now you would pick him over me in a second like you did back at the cave. You would stab me right in the heart again, wouldn't you?"

Sakura was shaking as tears poured out of her eyes. She somehow managed to control herself to be able to speak.

"Back at the cave, that's not what happened."

"Oh, really? Then how did your Kunai end up in my heart?"

"It was the genjutsu..."

"I know, you thought Sasuke was there, and it confused you so you stabbed me to save your precious Sasuke like..."

"NO," Sakura yelled. She looked fiercely at Naruto, who could feel his pain building to the point where he thought it couldn't get any worse. He was wrong. Sakura shut her shrink wrapped eyes forcing even more tears to fall and said quietly.

"It was Sasuke," she said looking him in the eyes. "I stabbed Sasuke."

* * *

_So there it is, for all you wondering when Sakura would spill, heres your answer. Now please review, I want to know what every person thinks bout this. I honestly (being modest as possible) thought it was a pretty bad ass way to do it. I want to hear what all of you have to say about this, especially after this chapter gave me hell and probably carpal tunnel syndrome._

_So I hope you liked and I will have next chapter up as soon as possible._


	11. Things Unsaid

_Ok, first off I am sorry, I think I won't be releasing updates as fast from now on. School is starting to be a pain and I can't do both so consistently (and is much as it pains me to admit, school is more important, this probaly won't get me a job and lay a path for a career (though that would be awesome if I could (like being a writer for an anime (but not Naruto(though that would be unbelievably amazing))))). Haha, sorry, thats how my mind works. I also would have had this out by the end of this past weekend, but I had my best friend from back home stopped by for the weekend so I didn't have much time to work on this. Well heres the next chapter. _

_By the way, this chapter has a lot of symbolism. And for you that don't know, Sakura means cherry blossom in Japanese._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I can tell myself I do._

* * *

Silence seemed to fill every void of the wooden house. The light from the upstairs room started to flicker as the candles burnt the last of their wax. The rose buds, once neatly spread over the floor, were now swept to the corners.

Naruto stared at the pink haired ninja who had evoked so much emotion from him over the past few years. She meant the world to him, yet in these drawn out seconds of painful silence he realized something. At this moment, when he looked into her emerald eyes, he felt nothing. His mind had gone blank, all knowledge of anything he ever loved or cared for seemed to slip away. Sakura whose presence alone use to give him goose bumps, now stood right in front of him, yet her entire existence was numb to Naruto's senses.

"What?" he said, still trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"I stabbed Sasuke, I don't know how, it must of been the genjutsu," Sakura said trying her best to keep her composure, which she knew was a losing battle. "But the person I thrusted my kunai into wasn't you."

"But you apologized..."

"Yes, because I knew Sasuke's death would cause you pain."

"But downstairs, when they were talking about those perverted things, you thought of Sasuke..."

"I didn't even here them," she said in what was almost a scream as tears began to well up in her emerald eyes. "I had started thinking about why we were in this position now was all because of him. The genjutsu, the Hidden Rain Village records, all of it. When I started thinking about it, they were talking about him, not us."

Silence filled the room again, slowly strangling Naruto of his sanity. So many things filled the young ninja's mind; all made no sense to him.

"Why didn't you tell me this before Sakura?" He asked desperately.

"I tried, kind of, I don't know," Sakura began to cry harder, feeling her world slowly fall apart. "I was afraid to tell you. Afraid to say I had given up on bringing Sasuke back safely. Afraid to tell you I had given up on our friend."

He turned around and walked to the window. He undid the latches and threw it open.

"Naruto," Sakura cried loudly.

He looked back and met her eyes. The cold night air blowing past Sakura the thing that gave her goose bumps. Naruto's eyes, once full of life, now looked dead. All color and livelihood hood had left. Sakura opened her mouth in a final plea.

"Please, Naruto, don't give up on me."

He turned back towards the window and jumped through, into the starry night. The last flame from the candles burnt out, leaving Sakura in the dark.

Naruto landed softly on the ground below him. Without even looking where he was going, he started off at a brisk pace. He didn't know what he was doing; he just knew he had to get away.

The thoughts of what had transpired started to sneak back into his head. He started to walk faster. Had she given up on saving their comrade? The walk turned to a jog. Had she loved him because Sasuke was gone to her? The jog turned into a run. Had he drove her away from the thing that drove her for so long? The run turned into an all out sprint. Was he to blame for everything?

Naruto emerged from the woods into a field. The stars had gone as he stumbled, falling to the ground. He rolled and slid to a stop on his stomach. Lifting himself to all fours, he began to shake as tears squeezed through his eye lids.

"Why dammit?" He screamed through the tears that were now forming a puddle under his face. "Why?... why?"

He looked as his tear drops, as more and more fell. The two drops in the puddle turned to three, then four, then too many to count. The drops started hitting his back and soaking his hear. The dirt all around him slowly turned to mud as a puddle formed around his hands and knees. He leaned back, holding his hands out at his side. He felt the mud on his palms wash off as he threw his back and looked to the night sky. He watched as the drops of water rained down on him and lightning streaked across the skies. He shut his eyes, feeling the cold drops run down his body. He sat there, for what seemed like an eternity, letting everything rain down on him. Then, he got to his feet, throwing his torn shirt to the side. He brought his hands together and yelled.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu."

A couple hundred Naruto's appeared, filling the field. All at once they converged, in a giant brawl. No matter what he had to do, he was going to bring Sasuke back to the Leaf, and keep his promise to Sakura.

...

The rain beat against the window as Sakura's breath appeared across the glass. She hadn't left the window since he had jumped out. She had only just closed it, a couple minutes after it had started pouring. She was soaked and shaking from the cold air that now seemed to kiss her body. How weird things seemed on this night? A while earlier it had been perfectly clear, but now it was far from that.

Sakura slowly turned from the window to walk to the bathroom only to slip on the water that now covered the floor. She broke her fall with her hands and rolled onto her back. She looked up at Yamato's wood work on the ceiling. What was happening to her? What should she be feeling?

Sakura got back up and headed to the bathroom. She undressed as she turned the hot water on. Steam slowly filled the room as Sakura looked at herself in the mirror. She remembered when all she wanted was for Sasuke to hold her body against thought held nothing to her though. Now, all she wanted was for Naruto to hold her, tell her it was going to be alright. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time as the steam started to obstruct her view. Looking at her reflection she couldn't help but wonder, if she even deserved Naruto's love.

Climbing into the shower, she knew that was for him to decide. She slid down into a fetal-like position, sitting on the shower floor. She put her head down, into her arms and resting her forehead on her knees. She let the warm water run down her body as she gently rocked herself back and forth. She wouldn't know what to say to him when he got back. She never seemed to have the right words. Her words didn't stop Sasuke from leaving the village on that night. She could feel her eyes start to water as she squeezed her knees harder; trying to not think what she knew was coming next. She couldn't stop Naruto from leaving earlier that night. No matter what she said, things never seemed to work out for her.

Sakura let these thoughts go on for awhile, only stopping when she realized the shower water was no longer hot. She got up, turning the shower off and started drying herself in her damp towel for the second time that night. Slipping back into her gown, she looked in the mirror with a sigh, she had really didn't know what to say. She hung up her towel before heading to bed. She entered the dark room, squinting to see the bed she was walking towards.

"Are you done in there?" came a voice from behind her that made her jump.

"Naruto, what are you doing there?" Sakura asked as she turned and saw the young ninja, arms crossed, leaning against the wall by the bathroom door.

"Waiting to take a shower so I can go to bed."

"But what happened to you?"

Sakura's eyes had finally adjusted enough to see Naruto's face in the dark room. He had cuts and bruises all over himself, and was bleeding from his nose and a cut above his left eye. His pajama bottoms were covered in mud and blood, and he had no shirt. He shrugged off her question and turned to open the door. As he gripped the door knob in his cut up hand, Sakura's voice stopped him.

"Listen, about earlier, I..."

She couldn't seem to find what words to say to him. She had spent all that time trying to come up with something to say, something to reason with him with, and yet all she could do was draw blanks.

"Something's aren't meant to be said," Naruto said as he opened the door and entered the bathroom, shutting it lightly behind him.

Sakura sat there, confused. What had he meant by that? It was way too deep for Naruto to come up with on the spot. She turned, confused and a little hurt and crawled into bed. As she laid down, she felt something under her ear. She sat up and looked down at what was resting on her pillow.

It was a cherry blossom.

_Flashback..._

Naruto laid on his back, exhausted. Looking up into the rainy sky, he tried to catch his breath. The grassy field he had been fighting in was now reduced to mud. The few trees that had been there were torn from there roots and scattered who knows where. He laid in the middle, still not knowing. Turning his head he saw something a couple yards away. The pink of the thing stood out in the muddy landscape.

It was a cherry blossom.

He smiled at it, turning his head back to look at the sky the rain had stopped. The clouds parted revealing the moon. It was full that night.

_End flashback..._

Naruto emerged from the shower, he had hoped to talk to Sakura before she went to sleep, but he saw that it would have to wait. He slid into bed, not taking his eyes off of her hair. God, how he loved that hair. He curled up trying to get warm.

"You know you can get closer than that Naruto," Sakura said as she turned to face him with a sly smile across her face. "I did use up all the hot water; I mean the least I could do is help you warm up."

"Oh, well... Sakura about earlier..."

Before Naruto could finish he felt Sakura's lips meet his. She remained there for a second, before disconnecting.

"Something's aren't meant to be said."

* * *

_Awwwwww, I know. This ending makes me smile and my heart get all warm, and I wrote it. Hope you guys like it, it was hard to write after the drama of last chapter. _

_Like I said, I do not know when I will have the next one out for sure, but it should be out by the end of next weekend maybe. I am having my girlfriend from back home visit me this weekend. I feel so loved from back home, now only if my parents would talk to me, lol jk._

_Well please comment on this and leave reviews, I'm like a beggar with them. Also, when I see comments, it makes me wanna write the next chapter even more, so I get them out quicker (yeah yeah yeah, thats a dirty move but I did it lol)._

_And if you are wondering why so many author notes, I am in a great mood. Naruto Shippuden episode 201 comes out tonight. Can't say which site cause that would be spamming and I'm not about to get kicked off of here._

_Oh, one last thing before I go, please review._


	12. Countdown

_So here it is, chapter 12, before the weekend (kind of). It wasn't hard to write the ideas, just hard to organize and get perfect. Had some help from a previously mentioned someone (TheOmegaMan) for all the dialogue in this chapter. Well I hope you all enjoy._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, so yeah... thats it._

* * *

Naruto was somewhere between sleep and wake. Laying there, eyes still closed, he thought about the dream he had last night. How him and Sakura fell asleep together, how they kissed each other over and over again for the longest time. How her face turned bright red when her hand accidentally bumped right against his spot. How she gasped and tried to pretend she was mad when Naruto left a rather revealing mark on her neck.

Opening his eyes he was greeted by the back of Sakura's head. He noticed that she was awful close to him. Looking down he saw a reddish-black mark on her neck. Naruto's heart seemed to take off as he smiled feverishly. What happened last night wasn't a dream, though he did think the singing bowl of giant ramen that tried to eat him probably was. Laying there, holding the women of his dreams in his arms, he couldn't think of a time he felt happier. Looking down her body, only covered by a thin spaghetti strap gown, Naruto's joy suddenly turned to panic. His right hand was currently place directly on her breast. While it normally would be a problem it was even worse that her arm was on top of his, was going to make this pretty difficult. He could feel the soft surface of the breast with a hard center that poked the palm of his hand so gently. He took a deep breath and tried to pull his arm out, which by doing so he realized he had inadvertently pushed his groin against Sakura's perfect ass. He felt his morning nature getting even more excited as he pulled it away, this time accidentally grasping her breast.

"Mmm, Naruto what are you do..." asked Sakura in a sleepy tone.

Naruto panicked and pulled his hand out as hard and quickly as he could. It was stuck for a second before dislodging, sending him off the bed.

"Naruto what's wrong with you?" Sakura asked as she turned over and sat up, looking at the dumbfound ninja. "Is something wrong?"

"Na...na...na... No, nothing's wrong, what makes you say that?" He stuttered while he smiled and scratched the back of his head.

As Naruto got to his feet, Sakura got out of the bed and started walking towards him. He couldn't help but glance down at her perfect body, though his eyes didn't get far. Her breasts looked so good in the thin fabric of the gown as her erect nipples were outlined perfectly. He blushed as he started back pacing, looking back up at her, hoping she hadn't noticed. The sly, sexy smile that crept across her face told him otherwise. She slowly started to push her spaghetti straps off her shoulders, falling down her arms.

"Do you not find them satisfactory?" Sakura said in a playful voice as she looked lustfully at the nervous ninja whose back had just come up against the wall.

"No, it isn't that!" Naruto objected as he lifted his hands up.

"Oh, I see, so you just wanted them in your hands," she said as she brushed them up against his chest and whispered in his ear. "All you had to do was ask."

At the last statement she grabbed Naruto's inner thigh, making him look up and groan with pleasure between his clenched teeth. She started kissing behind his ear as she placed her hands on the collar portion of her gown, and started to slowly pull it down. Moving down to his neck, she started to bite down, trying to give him a matching mark. He watched as her hand slowly pulled the gown down. It reached the point where her breasts' most sensual part was just about exposed.

"Breakfast time!" A joyous voice announced as the room door swung wide open. "On the menu today is eggs and sausage with a side of... holy shit."

Kakashi stood there in the doorway, looking at the other two dumbstruck. He was wearing a kitchen apron and oven mitts, holding a spatula and cooking pan. His eye was now wide and jaw dropped. After a moment, Kakashi seemed to regain himself.

"Well I can't believe this," Kakashi said with a bit of disappointment in his voice.

The two were still in an embrace up against the wall. Sakura still had her hand on Naruto's inner thigh, now dangerously close to his member while the only thing keeping her gown up was the fact her breasts were firmly pressed against Naruto's chest. The young blonde haired ninja had one hand gripping Sakura's ass and the other just below her neck. Neither of them dared to move, fearing the worst from their long time sensei.

"I just lost 1,000 ryo," Kakashi said sadly, shutting the door.

The two let go of each other in frustration, Sakura pulling her gown back up and Naruto trying his best to hide his excitement in his pant. Sakura used the bathroom to get dressed as Naruto threw on his orange and black outfit in the regular room. Out of all the times Kakashi could pop in, he had to choose this one.

Breakfast that morning was quiet for all of the three seconds before Yamato and Kakashi started berating Naruto and Sakura with questions.

"Was he a gentleman?"

"Did you get her flowers?"

"Chocolates?"

"It was the room that did the trick, wasn't it?"

"Will you be more mature now?"

"Did Pervy Sage's wisdom come in handy?"

Naruto drew the line here, standing up, he shouted at the two jonin.

"Is this some type of interview or can I eat some damn breakfast?"

There was silence throughout the house. Everyone just stared at Naruto, Sakura was blushing with a look between confusion and anger and the other two just looked, amused.

"Well he just answered the maturity question, don't you think?" Yamato asked his long time friend.

"Yeah, they never answer the good stuff, stupid teenagers."

Breakfast then resumed some form of normalcy as they ate Kakashi's surprisingly good meal. It was about five minutes before Naruto decided to break the silence.

"Any news from the Leaf?"

"We have a deadline," Kakashi said between bites of egg.

"A deadline? For what?" Sakura asked curiously.

"For completing our mission of course," Yamato answered for Kakashi whose mouth was full of food. "We have one month to bring Sasuke back to the village."

"A month!" Naruto and Sakura said simultaneously.

"Yeah. We have thirty days."

"And if we don't have it completed by then?" Naruto asked.

"Tsunade will be forced to send an assassination team," Kakashi answered this time. "He's lucky it hasn't already happened."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Sasuke may be a member of the Akatsuki."

"What?" Naruto yelled.

"Please let me finish before you start yelling at me," Kakashi said as he continued on. "Sasuke was seen in the Akatsuki robes capturing the Eight-tails. The Raikage labeled him a S-level missing-nin. Under Danzo, this label stuck, but due to Tsunade's recovery and recent evidence that Sasuke failed in securing the Eight-tails, your comrade's status has been suspended for a month. We are the only team going after him. In thirty days records of Sasuke will go public from the Hidden Leaf and other villages will be free to send teams after him."

It took a couple minutes for Naruto and Sakura to comprehend what had been said. Both couldn't believe it, their old teammate now an Akatsuki scum. The same guys who had taken Gaara and killed Asuma, not to mention destroyed the Leaf.

"So why the Hidden Rain Village?" Naruto asked. "What's there that Sasuke could want?"

"Well since it is the Hidden Rain, all of these are just rumors but, since Pain's defeat at your hands, the Hidden Rain has a new leader, Konan," Kakashi explained. "It's been rumored that she has disbanded from the Akatsuki and is no longer a member. I know there was some communication attempts between her and Danzo, but nothing ever came from it."

"So what does this mean?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I don't know for sure. My guess…there's something there that the Akatsuki want and since Konan's no longer with them, they can't get it."

After breakfast the team got ready to head out. As they packed, Sakura noticed the cherry blossom was a little less lively than last night. Using her medical ninjutsu she poured chakra into it, replenishing its beauty.

"You know, you're pretty amazing," said a voice from behind her.

She looked over her shoulder to see Naruto leaning against the wall, arms crossed. She smiled with an idea and turned around, on her knees and pulled Naruto close.

"Oh... uhh Sakura, what are you doing?"

"Oh, you'll see."

Sakura pulled up his shirt and started kissing his stomach. She reached her hands around behind Naruto and grabbed his ass, pulling him closer. She had no intent to do what he thought she was, at least right now, but she loved making him feel good. She could feel him getting hard. She tilted her head and started kissing the indent of his hip and groin. Opening her eyes she saw movement behind Naruto.

"Hey, you guys you about ready to... dammit."

Yamato was standing in the door, looking shocked. Sakura realized what had happened but it was too late.

"Well I owe you 3,000 ryo Kakashi," Yamato called to the other room.

"They were doing what?" returned a surprised voice.

Yamato turned back to the two who hadn't moved a muscle since he'd entered.

"We are leaving in five minutes, be ready," he said as he turned to leave.

"No, Captain..." Sakura was interrupted by the door shutting.

"I don't get it, what happened?" Naruto asked her as she got to her feet.

"Well, for one, they ruined the chance of you getting to third base," she said as she kissed him on the cheek.

"Sakura, don't be silly," he said laughing. "I don't play baseball."

...

The team met outside five minutes later with a disgruntled Yamato and a smiling Kakashi. Sakura tried to explain to them it wasn't what it looked like, but the other two weren't buying it. Naruto on the other hand was wondering why they wanted to play baseball.

"Alright, house is down, place is clean so I think we're ready to go?" Yamato asked everyone.

The team answered yes and Yamato turned to them.

"I have been to the Hidden Rain Village once on a surveillance mission, so I will lead the way." He instructed to the team. "When we get there, it will take a while to get into the city, so we need to be patient. Naruto."

"Yeah yeah, I got it, patience," the boy said obviously annoyed.

"Well let's head out," Yamato announce. "Follow my lea..."

He was cut off by the object standing in front of them. A familiar black robe with red clouds blew in the wind.

"I have something I need to tell you," came an ominous voice from behind a swirled orange mask. "To all of you."

* * *

_Ok, I hope you liked. I will try to not leave as many author notes as last couple chapters, so here goes that attempt._

_About last chapter, I knew cherry blossoms came from trees. It was just sitting on the mud, not planted. It was from one of the trees that got destroyed. I had three or four people inform me they grew on trees so just an fyi._

_Thats about it, I ended up doing a pretty good job keeping it short. Will have the next chapter out as soon as I can. Oh, and please review._


	13. The Plan

_Well here is chapter 13, which turned out to be one of longest(I am thinking it is, but I can't remember right now) so far, so I hope everyone enjoys. I had a hell of a time righting this one._

_I would also like to thank TheOmegaMan yet again. This time not only for his help, but for putting up with my crap I had to pull. If you are reading this thank you for not trying to strangle me._

_Well I don't want to give away anything in my author notes, so here it is._

_I do not own Naruto, nor anymore cute things to say._

* * *

An immense wall loomed over the young man, who studied it intently. There didn't seem to be any weaknesses visible to the naked eye. He stood there for a few more minutes before finally admitting his defeat to the colossal.

"Are you sure about the number of guards here?" he asked the hooded woman who stood behind him.

"Ugh, yes, why would I be wrong?" she asked back in annoyance.

"Well... alright then."

The young man shut his eyes. Then with a force of chakra, opened them. His pupils filled with red and three black objects spread around the middle evenly. A world invisible to most came rushing into his view. Chakra flow and spirit presence presented itself to him, guiding his eyes to his right.

"Over there, a weakness in the cities barrier. About two feet under ground is a drainage pipe we can travel through," The Uchiha said. "Suigetsu, you break it open."

The white haired adolescent rolled his eyes and muttered something about how he always had to use his sword for the dirty job. He walked over to the spot Sasuke had pointed out. Pulling his sword off his back, he let the arm he was carrying it in grow large with muscle.

"See Karin, this is what it looks like when you only use one hand," he called mockingly to the women.

He response was cut off by the breaking of the ground as he swung down, shattering the top of the cement drainage line. After a minute of letting the dirt and debris settle, a hole was revealed. Suigetsu peered down into the dark abyss.

"Well it isn't sewage at least."

"No, it is however infested with rats," Sasuke replied closing his eyes, withdrawing his ocular power. "Jugo, I need you to ask them what this is for and if they can get us into the city."

He nodded and descended into the hole. In the past three months Jugo had returned to his original form. He had saved Sasuke's life with his own flesh, making him revert back to a child about four or five months back. His body seemed to correct the event by itself as he was now fully grown once more.

"The mice say they can lead us," he reported as he climbed out the hole.

"Good, we'll follow them," Sasuke replied.

"Ugh, I will do no such thing," Karin detested as she crossed her arms and faced the other way in defiance.

"God, could we for once skip the dramatics Karin," an annoyed Suigetsu replied. "You always give in to Sasuke in the end."

"I do what... you little."

"Karin, you don't have to go if you don't want to," said Sasuke in a low, calm voice.

"Well... you do need me..." Karin said as her cheeks turned pink. "Fine, but next time you ask me to something like this forget it."

"You're hopeless," Suigetsu said.

With out warning she jumped him, beating him in the face mercilessly. Sasuke covered Jugo's eyes to keep his killer instinct from coming out. After a minute Karin finished and Suigetsu regained himself. With things back to normal the team descended down into the hole. They followed Jugo who had a rat on his shoulder. The two communicated back and forth as they walked. No one talked for a while as they continued on. The tunnel was poorly lit and cramped, making traveling it a pain.

"You know, you're probably the saddest excuse for a pirate I have ever seen Jugo," Suigetsu joked. "Your parrot is a rat."

The group laughed, even Sasuke grinned earnestly.

"But seriously, why do I feel like the air in here is so damp," Suigetsu asked. "There isn't any water in this pipe."

"Well we are currently under the ocean right now," Sasuke informed him.

"Ocean?"

"Well technically a huge lake. This village is surrounded by it."

"You know, you're probably the saddest excuse for a tour guide I have ever seen Sasuke."

"Sorry to disappoint," Sasuke said.

However, water soon appeared as the tunnel opened up into an underground network of pipes and canals. They were under the village now. After a while of wondering around the enormous labyrinth, the team came to a latter leading up to the surface. Sasuke knew they would have never found there way here without Jugo.

"Here's the exit," Jugo informed them. "It leads to an alley way, no one will see us come up."

"Good, I have one more question for it before you let it go," Sasuke said. "In the past three months, has the rain felt different."

The team looked at him with confused faces. Sasuke wasn't usually the type to ask trivial matters such as weather and other small talk.

"He said yes," Jugo said surprised. "The rain has felt different, he doesn't know how, but it just has."

"Just as I thought," the young Uchiha said to himself. "He can go."

"Wait, what this stuff with the rain about Sasuke?" Karin asked suspiciously.

"The reports I found in the old hideout showed that it rained every Sunday and occasionally other periods of time," Sasuke explained to the others. "Meaning it was most likely used as a monitoring device. The leader, Pain, died three months ago and the village was left to Konan. She left the Akatsuki and pledged loyalty to the village. She is using the same technique as Pain did, so be wary of the rain. Now lets get the hell out of this shit hole."

The team shook their heads in agreement and one by one left the underground. Once on the surface, Sasuke replaced the manhole and looked around. They had come up in an alley way, between two dumpsters. He expected that this manhole was used commonly for something else. In the alley way though he couldn't get a good look around. The buildings towered high blocking his view. He decided to head for the main road to get a better look.

The buildings were tall, reaching high into the sky. The place was huge and Sasuke knew he would never just stumble upon what he was looking for. Walking through the streets, he saw a lot of poverty. The city was mainly made of war refugees, so many luxuries were out of their reach. It was nothing like the Leaf Village. The presence felt cold and bitter.

Snapping out of his daydreams, Sasuke realized he had no time for this. He needed to get information fast, he probably didn't have much time. His lingering genjutsu trap had been activated, meaning the Leaf was already onto him. He stopped walking when he came to a rather mean looking bar. The outside looked like shit and no one of any importance would be caught within a mile of the place. Some of the windows were broken and no name of the place was present. His mind kicked into overdrive as he though, it was a perfect place.

"All right, I have a plan," he said to the rest of the team. "Though, it may get a little tricky."

At a little after midnight, Sasuke walked into the bar. The lights were dim, most burnt out. The tables were makeshift at best and the walls were covered with posters of world champion taijutsu fighters and naked women. The fans rotated slow, not doing anything in particular. one had panties hanging from it. Sasuke thought who would want to do anything in a shithole like this. A image flashed in his head of Karin cornering him in here. Shaking the image from his head, he regained his focus. He had bigger concerns.

The eyes of each man in the place instantly traveled to him as they started sizing him up. He had been right, there wasn't an honest man among the crowd. Each man in there would stab you for ten ryo. They were no good thugs, just the type of people he needed for the plan. He walked by the bulletin board that was clad with wanted posters on it. He pulled the top one off the list and looked at the picture of him. Out of the side of his eye he saw the bartender pull his blade from under the counter. Within a second his sword was drawn, the tip at the barkeeps throat.

"Stand down unless you want everyone in this room dead," Sasuke warned him coolly as he crumpled the piece of paper up in his other hand. "That goes for the rest of you men too. I didn't come here to kill anyone."

The men all looked at the bartender and waited for his response. He glared at the young Uchiha, then shook his head. Sasuke returned the nod, threw the crumpled up wanted poster into a flabbergasted customers drink on the bar top and headed for the table in the way back, sheathing his sword on the way. Sitting down in the cheap and uncomfortable booth, he checked to make sure every one was in position. Karin was up on the roof, out of sight. Jugo was at the bar, drinking water and taking the wanted poster out of the unhappy customers drink. Suigetsu was... well in the big metal tank of liquor behind the bar. He was in his liquid state so he would be fine. Things were going good so far. A man entered the bar, who unlike Sasuke looked like he belonged. He quickly spotted Sasuke and made his way over to him. He sat down across the table, looking around nervously. Sasuke smiled at the familiar face: an old friend.

"Were you followed?"

"No, what the fuck you think I am? A rat?"

"More or less."

"Listen you little bitch, I am the one risking my neck here. I don't care if you killed Orochimaru or not, don't fuck with me," the man said, his voice getting louder.

People had started to look over at the two. Sasuke needed to keep a low profile. The two were already an odd sight to begin with, so a heated argument wouldn't do Sasuke any good.

"Alright, calm down. I believe you Shigure," he said. "And please drop the tough guy act, just because you are dressed like a mugger doesn't make you one. I'd rather have your old, sarcastic self. I always did like you."

"Oh I am touched," he said, his usual persona taking back over. "From behind the bars of that damned cage you and your fucked up master kept me in, you did always look like a stand-up guy."

"Regardless of the past I need your help now. I could of picked three or four other guys, but I came to you."

"Yet again I am touched," Shigure said with even more sarcasm, but then quickly turned his voice serious. "Even though those other four guys couldn't do what I do. They are worthless to you, but I am your hidden gem."

"Cut the foreplay, you have information I need."

Shigure sat back in his chair and smiled.

"How do you know this?"

Sasuke leaned forward, elbows on the table and hands in a fist covering his mouth. He lowered his voice, making sure Shigure was the only one that would hear him. His eyes narrowed as he spoke with absolute precision.

"While you sat in a cell for three years that you never once left, nor in that time talked to anyone else besides me, you knew stuff about Orochimaru that I would have never learned. You didn't have the knowledge previous, you learned it with the smallest little traits. You have a mind that surpasses any ninja I have ever met. You hail from the ancient blood lines of the Honda clan. Your ancestors were renowned for their Kekkei Genkai. While most humans use no more than ten percent of there total brain, you use up to fifty percent."

Shigure sat back and lightly applauded him.

"Young little Sasuke did his homework before his big test," said the sarcastic man.

"Yeah, read it in some of Orochimaru's old files," he said smiling. "No wonder you helped me with my secret..."

Sasuke stopped his speech as he felt Karin's chakra flare. It was a signal, other ninja were coming. He waited for a second and felt it again. Depending on the number of flares she sent out, the severity of the situation. Sasuke had said if it got over three, they would have to end the mission.

"So it looks like things are going to be wrapping up here since your watch dog has sensed their presence," Shigure said.

Sasuke glared at the man, he had alerted them. Sasuke reached for his sword but paused when he saw Shigure slide a piece of paper onto the old bar table as he leaned back, putting both hands behind his head and relaxing in the booth.

The third chakra alert went off.

"Here is everything you need," he told Sasuke.

"How do you know what I need?"

The fourth chakra alert went off.

"Oh, come now Sasuke, you act as if I was stupid. I am working for Konan after all."

"Why should I trust you then, I have nothing to give in return. What if this is all a trap?"

"I owed you for freeing me."

"But what about your help in my secret..."

The fifth and final alert went off meaning there were at least ten full fledged jonin on there way, and Sasuke could feel them getting close.

"So you were the one to tell them to send men in full force, huh?" Sasuke asked the man.

"Yes, I highly advised it."

Sasuke stood up from his seat. Jugo and Suigetsu waiting for his command. They too had felt the alerts.

"That was very smart of you and the right call," Sasuke praised. "But, you think that'll actually work?"

"No, but how I love seeing you kill."

"Oh, well thats a shame," Sasuke said as he drove the blade through Shigures sternum. "My plan involves a distraction."

Many of the men in the bar had seen Sasuke kill the man were coming at him. He smiled, just as he had planned it. He laid couple hundred ryo on the table as a tip before pulling his sword from the dead mans body and facing his oncoming opponents.

"Sorry guys, I guess I lied." he said loudly.

As soon as five of the men were within five yards, he took a step, the last thing they ever saw. His speed was unmatched as he whirled past them cutting each and sheathing his sword. Each of his opponents spurted blood as he was now standing behind his defeated opponents. As everyone stared the metal tank behind the bartender exploded with Suigetsu emerging swinging his sword wildly. Jugo acted as if he was diving out of the way and put the wet poster on the ground. On the back side was a explosive tag Sasuke had set on there. Jugo rolled away, and ducked behind a booth as it went off in the middle of the bar. Sasuke had also attached a specially made smoke tag that started to fill the room with smoke. At this point it turned into an all out bar fight, which was perfect as the twelve Hidden Rain ninja had just busted through the front door. Sasuke sheathed his sword and started avoiding blind punches and dodging kicks. He made his way to the back door where his two male teammates were waiting.

"A bit theatrical don't you think, madam?" Suigetsu asked as he stumbled, slurring his words. "You should curtsey for the crowd, I'll make sure they don't throw a lion on the stage."

"Are you drunk?" Sasuke asked as they ran out the back door.

"Well in three of the five major villages... maybe. But here I am legal," he said as Sasuke had to pull him from turning the wrong way. "Which reminds me, happy birthday."

"Yeah thanks, lets keep moving."

"Aye, aye, madam boss man... boss me a... round... I need more booze."

They headed through an alley and turned the corner. Karin was there, waiting.

"Twelve jonin ranked ninja headed into the bar after you left," she reported as the team ran down a deserted alley way. "We should be fine once we get to the main road."

"I know, I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about him," Sasuke said. "He is shit faced, I am practically dragging him."

"Giddy up pony!"

Karin looked at him in disbelief.

"Fine I'll help him when we get to safety. He is annoying enough as it is, I don't need to hear his repressed memories surface."

They continued to run, turning corner after corner. Finally the road became visible through the long alley way. They ran the last part and slowed to enter the main populace. The only problem was on the main street weren't the usual late night crowd walking drunkenly to their next bar, but twelve jonin and Konan.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you and your associates are under arrest," said the leader of the village.

"SUPRISE!" Suigetsu yelled as he jumped up and down. "It's a surprise party silly."

Sasuke grabbed the loudmouth by the neck and forced him to sit down. He then turned his focus to the ninja surrounding him. Jugo and Karin all looked at Sasuke for instructions, who were surprise by his response. No fighting or Chidori, he just raised his hands in the air.

"I surrender, you got me."

Konan eyed him, she didn't buy it. From what she heard, he wouldn't go down without a fight. But here he was, hands up, head hung low and eyes closed. His eyes... She realized it a little to late.

Blood started to run down from his right eye as he opened it, and aimed at Konan.

"Amaterasu!"

Konan couldn't move quick enough. The black flame broke out across her chest and half her face. The eternal fire burned as she fell to the ground, hopelessly rolling around. Everything went dark as she gasped for her last breath. The flame devoured her.

Sasuke, spun around, hitting all twelve guards with a blast of Ameterasu within seconds of hitting Karin. He had gotten pretty much perfect with his Mangekyou Sharingan. He stood there, panting, observing his work. The screams of its victims echoed through the night like a song of victory for the Uchiha. He retracted the power, stumbling a bit.

"How long will that burn if it doesn't totally engulf its target?" Karin asked as she too admired Sasuke's handiwork.

"Seven days and seven nights," he answered.

He turned to walk away, but suddenly collapsed. Jugo caught him mid fall and picked him up to carry him. He felt light headed and dizzy. Opening his eyes he began to panic. He had gone blind. Trying to keep his cool he gave his team orders.

"What's Suigetsu's status?"

"I am fine boss."

"What? You were just drunk."

"You pulled me into a big puddle, which I absorbed on accident when you used Amaterasu," He said slur free. "I absorb any kind of liquid I am in, especially when I am scared. Seeing you do that while I was hammered almost made me shit my pants."

"So you are fine?"

"Drunk, but not like I was."

"Ok, so you are fine to run on your own then," Sasuke said to him. "We need to find a safe place to hide and I need you to take a look at my eyes Karin."

She agreed.

"The safe place comes first though."

Sasuke felt a drop of water hit his face, then a couple more.

"Jugo, are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You're crying."

"No I'm not."

Sasuke felt the breath leave from his body and a cold chill run his spine.

"Then we need to find a hiding place fast, preferably underground."

* * *

_Ok, I know, I know. Totally switched to Sasuke after leaving Naruto with a cliffhanger. This chapter is essential for setting up a couple of things though and it was a perfect time to do it, plus as you all know I am pretty evil. Hope you guys aren't to mad though, I will return to our hero next chapter... maybe._

_I might not respond to reviews right away, I am 90% sure I will be spending the weekend down at a friends farm (his grandparents own). They have no internet so I will not be able to talk to you all. I will however be back Monday, so I hope to have tons of reviews to respond to._


	14. Discussion

_I know this is out a little late and I am sorry. I thought that over spring break I would have plenty of free time to write, but no. It isn't the fun you all are probably thinking I am having. My week has consisted of staining a fence and dentist, doctor and eye people appointments. So I have been tired and stressed on time. So here it is, the new chapter. Warning, this chapter has some battle scenes which are violent to say the least._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do this computer, so yeah..._

* * *

As the morning sun rose into the sky, The Village Hidden in the Rain was being pelted with a unusually hard downpour. The clouds above had seemed to open up out of no where, letting the city have all it could handle. The streets were flooded with running water, sewers barely able to hold the sheer volume of liquid. Rain gutters spit out bursts of water at high velocity, forming streams in the alleys of the metropolis. Angry, Konan finally let up on the torrential shower and ended her jutsu. She remained though, looking out over the village.

She had failed to locate Sasuke and he had escaped. She had let him get away in their battle in the streets and she had failed to locate him. He was now a danger to her city.

"My Lady are you all right?" came a voice from behind her. "Many swore they saw you killed by Sasuke Uchiha."

"No, I escaped his black flames," the purple haired ninja said in her usual stoic manner as she turned away from the window. "When he shut his eye to call upon his Mangekyo Sharingan, I substituted myself with a shadow clone. I thought you had perished at his hands too?"

"No I was lucky enough to escape his wrath. Why a shadow clone though, and not your usual paper clone?"

"I needed to experience his Amaterasu first hand. I will no doubt see it again whether it is from Sasuke or someone much worse."

"You mean Madara my lady?"

Konan paused for a second in surprise. She was actually taken back by his answer. Quickly collecting herself, she answered him, showing no signs of surprise.

"Yes, though I am intrigued that you know so much," she said to the hooded figure who hid in the shadow. "Though I should expect no less from you Shigure Honda. Or should I call you by your nick name, Orochimaru's most dangerous snake?"

"Shigure is fine and no need to worry my lady," he said with a humble smile. "My loyalty lies with you and my home village. I will begin my search immediately."

"The city is on lockdown Shigure, no one in or out unless they are of top priority."

Shigure shook his head and bowed before leaving the room. As he descended the tower, he couldn't help but smile. His part played so perfectly and his lie undetected, it was almost to easy. He had Konan eating out of his hand.

Meanwhile Konan looked out over the city again, pondering many things to herself. The black flames of Amaterasu, where Shigure's loyalty really lay, yet none nagged her mind as much as one. Where was Madara and what was he doing now?

...

The four Leaf ninja stood in place frozen, looking at the orange masked figure in shock. Kakashi started to formulate a plan in his mind. He knew Madara could erase his existence and reappear else where. The safest bet would be to use long range ninjutsu to combat their target. But before he could speak a word of his plan, Naruto had vanished. To Kakashi's surprise, he couldn't even gage his speed with his eye. The next thing he caught sight of was Madara back pedaling, holding a partly cracked mask with Naruto's outstretched fist about five yards in front of him.

"Ha, I can hit you in sage mode," Naruto yelled as he sprang for another attack.

Madara wasn't fooled the second time as he easily caught Naruto's fist. Taking his other hand he gripped the back of Naruto's head and drove it into the ground face first. His hand remained on Naruto's scalp as he quickly rotated his wrist. A sickening sound of bones twisting and breaking filled the air. He had just broken Naruto's neck.

"I let you hit me to test out your new sage jutsu and as I predicted, it is nothing special," He spat at the paralyzed genin. "At least you won't move around so much now Nine-Tails."

Yamato quickly held his hand out, shooting wood tendrils towards his opponent. Kakashi seemingly disappeared as he moved towards his target, so much for long distance. The masked Akatsuki dodged each one of the wooden beams as Kakashi appeared behind him with his lightning blade and threw a punch at the square of Madara's back. Kakashi's hand went right through Madara's body as the slippery target spun away laughing.

"Oh come on, don't tell me that this is all Sharingan Kakashi has to offer."

Before Kakashi could recover, Madara kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying into one of Yamato's wood beams. Madara then teleported past Yamato's incoming tendrils.

Sakura stood frozen at the sight of Naruto's mangled body unable to move. She felt her heart drop as he feet seemed to be planted to the ground. She couldn't move, she couldn't fight, she could barely think. What had just happened? It was so fast, it couldn't be real. Standing there, still in shock she didn't notice the ominous presents behind her till it was too late. She tried to move, but her body seemed to be traveling in slow motion. She saw the kunai on the left side of her neck travel to the right side. It seemed to move so slow as her blood squirted out, marking the path of the cut. Everything after that went blurry, then black. Her dying thoughts of the night spent in Naruto's arms.

The lifeless body of the pink haired ninja fell to its knees, then facedown in the now reddened grass. Kakashi yelled in anger as he activated his Kamui, turning the picture around Madara into a whirlpool like state. It spun fast as it concentrated on Madara's head. Right before Kakashi could actually initiate the attack, Madara countered. All of a sudden the turning stopped and everything returned to normal. Madara disappeared, only to pop up in front of Kakashi.

"I could have swore I told you that wouldn't work on me."

He grabbed the jonin's face, who screamed out in pain as his sharingan eye exploded, sending him to the ground in a heap, blood trailing from the empty socket. Madara then turned to Yamato, who sent even more tendrils at him. After his first couple where leisurely dodged, Yamato sent one from under the ground that he had planted earlier at Madara's back. The beam hit its mark, impaling Madara, who was lifted into the air.

"How... did you... of all people... get me..?"

Before Yamato could open his mouth to answer, Madara disappeared from his spot and reappeared in front of Yamato's outstretched hand.

"Just Kidding."

He grabbed the wood ninja's left arm, twisting it, broke not only Yamato's forearm, but the connection to his multiple wood tendrils. Yamato screamed in pain as Madara flung him around, driving him into the earth face first while keeping a firm hold of his broken arm. Putting his foot into the back of Yamato, he pulled, separating the shoulder. Yamato signed through his screams of pain with his other hand as two tendrils with sharp ends shot at Madara's blind side in a desperation attack. The beams went right through Madara, piercing Yamato; one in the heart and the other in his kidney. Madara then teleported to Kakashi who was slowly getting to his feet. He kicked the jonin back to the ground and grabbed one of Yamato's remaining beams. The beam instantly burst into many pieces, leaving a wooden stake in Madara's hand. He then kicked Kakashi over so he laid on his back, looking up at his executioner.

"I know it sounds cliche, but any last words?"

"Sure," said the Kakashi on the ground, who then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Gotcha," said the real Kakashi who stood behind Madara, empty eyes socket still bleeding.

The real Kakashi activated his lightning blade as he threw a punch at Madara's vital spot. His hand traveled through his opponents body without disturbance. Madara in one motion flipped the wooden stake to face his own body, and stabbed himself in the heart. The stake traveled right through his body and impaled Kakashi's own vital spot. Spitting up blood the silver haired ninja wavered a bit, then fell to his knees, holding his fatal wound. Madara grabbed the jonin's hair and pulled it so his neck was revealed.

"To bad Sharingan Kakashi," Madara said as he brought his kunai out. "You could never quite live up to your father. Oh well, I guess you will die just like your father did, at my hands."

Kakashi's eyes grew as he looked at the orange mask, now only covering about three fourths of his opponents face. His wound all of a sudden became numb and all sound and smell seemed to cease entirely.

Madara stopped as he looked at the surprised face of his enemy. He laughed in pure bliss as he spoke to his bewildered foe.

"You always knew it wasn't suicide didn't you? Just too ashamed to question what the village told you," he said as he pulled Kakashi a little higher by his hair causing the jonin to cough up more blood. "Your father found out about my existence and plan to destroy the village. He was brilliant and even succeeded in delaying my attack. I did however make him lose credibility with the village by staging that mission. Then killed him and made it look like suicide."

Anger shot through Kakashi as he used the last of his strength to summon his Chidori. As the blue lightning began to engulf his hand he realized it was too late. Madara brought his kunai across Kakashi's throat in the same manner as he had done to Sakura moments before. The lightning ceased as everything started to fade black for Kakashi. The last thing he saw was the orange mask, with a red eye peering out from beneath it.

Kakashi awoke in a cold sweat, staring at the morning dew on the grass. He looked around to see everyone else on there hands and knees along with him, panting as if they had just awoken from the same nightmare. He could feel his hands shake in anger as tears began to fill his eyes.

"That would be the outcome if you fought me now," said a voice to behind Kakashi, bringing the ninja back to earth. "I am not here to fight, just talk. So to keep that little scene from happening, please don't do anything rash."

Madara was sitting in a wooden chair, watching the ninja's slowly regain their nerves and get to their feet. Kakashi had to do his best from throwing himself at Madara, but he knew self control was the best thing in this situation. Madara shook his head.

"My my, you all fell for my simple genjutsu," He said, almost laughing. "You guys will be no fun at all. The only person of any use was the wood jutsu user who made this fabulous chair for me, though it was me controlling him through my genjutsu..."

"Why you..."

The interruption came from Naruto, who had been the slowest to regain his wits, He now started to fill with anger. He could here the demon inside him roar as the Kyubi's cloak slowly enveloped him. The image of Sakura's death sent him into an almost blind rage. His nails and teeth grew sharp as his hair stood on edge. Three tails popped out from behind him as he set his red eyes on Madara.

"Oh, you silly demon," Madara said as he looked into Naruto's eyes. "You aren't needed here."

Without warning the cloak dissipated and Naruto fell to the ground. The group quickly surrounded him, making sure he was alright.

"What happened? I didn't use my jutsu to confine it."

"I don't see any of the Kyubi's chakra in you?"

"Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto said angrily pointing his finger at his opponent. "It was something he did."

"Calm down, all I did was lock away the nine-tails for now," Madara said loudly as the others heads turned to him. "Now are we ready to talk?"

"What do you mean by talk," Kakashi said as he turned his back to the others. "What do you have to say?"

"What I have to say is the truth."

"The truth about what? How you supposedly killed my father?" Kakashi spat, though in his heart he could feel that Madara wasn't lying.

"No, though deep inside you know its true," the ancient Uchiha said slyly, as if he could read Kakashi's mind. "What I have to say is about Sasuke and the Uchiha Clan."

At this, Naruto got to his feet slowly, but under his own power. He stumbled a little before regaining his equilibrium. Taking a deep breath he slowly walked past Kakashi and towards Madara. He stopped a couple feet from the orange masked ninja, who slouched back lazily in his wooden chair. He looked down, straight into the Sharingan eye through the mask. It was all he could do to keep from attacking. He wanted to so badly, but he knew that this was a one time chance to get the information he so desperately wanted.

"What do you mean by the Uchiha clan..." Kakashi began to question, but Naruto held out his hand.

The wind howled through the trees and birds sang in the beautiful morning weather as if nothing was wrong. Naruto let his hand fall back to his side, but kept the connection between his and Madara's eyes. He had always, ever since Itachi had his talk with him, knew something wasn't right. The silence seemed to drag on forever before Naruto finally spoke.

"That night, you know, the one where whole Uchiha clan got wiped out. What really happened?"

Madara laughed, as he got up from his seat, walking by Naruto.

"So, Itachi took some extra precautions, just in case Sasuke didn't follow the path he wanted him to," he said as he walked around Naruto, his hand gliding around the young ninja's shoulders. "He warned you about what would happen if Sasuke followed the path I have laid out for him, didn't he?"

"So you are the reason Sasuke hate has consumed him," Naruto said as he could feel his own hate starting to surface again, this time he couldn't hold it as he began to yell. "You are the reason he left, the reason he still seeks vengeance, the reason..."

Before Naruto could react, Madara grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

"Yes, I am the one behind all of Sasuke's strife," he said throwing Naruto to the ground, then lazily sitting back in his chair. "And I will tell you everything, but first I must start from the beginning, from that night."

Naruto sat up, anger still boiling. He remained where he was though, knowing his silence would wield answers. Madara seeing Naruto's resolve to listen looked around at the others. They too seemed to have given him permission to speak freely.

"It all started that night, the one before mentioned," He announced to his crowd. "The night that everything was ruined for the Uchiha clan. The night I killed an entire clan single handedly and framed the one man who tried to stop me."

He paused, looking at the confused faces before him. Smiling he went on.

"That night, a battle over Sasuke's destiny began," Madara said in a calm voice. "Between me and Itachi Uchiha."

* * *

_So there it is, and sorry for making Naruto and Sakura's deaths so violent, Madara is ruthless though. This is really my first intensive battle seen (even though none of it was actually real) so I didn't really know how to approach it._

_As some of you have already figured out, I am not going with the whole Itachi ordered to by village to wipe out clan. I have (in my opinion) a much more interesting twist that I bet you all will love. It took me about five hours to draw out (which is a long time for me) so I am so excited to see what everyone will think. I am so excited that I am rambling about it in my author notes, which I seem to do quite a lot._

_So review please. Tell me what you all thought of the battle, over all chapter and even what you think Madara will tell them next chapter. I will gladly respond to any guesses._


	15. The Truth Part 1 The Nine Tails Attack

_Ok, I have a lot to say so please bear with me, I am sorry to do this._

_First, sorry it took so long. My idea for this chapter evolved from a short little, almost trivial meeting, into something that will dictate and foreshadow not only the rest of this story, but any sequels (I am seeing minimum of three) that will follow. I also had to literally ninja my way past all this stuff that they are having problems with here on the site, so it took a little while longer, sorry._

_Second, these next chapters will be split into past events that will lay ground work for the story from here on out. It will hopefully give my story a whole new look at Naruto while still retaining the elements we love and transform this tale I have come up with into a much more interesting and unique fable._

_Third, Like I said this was at first nothing like it is going to be now. I was going to do one chapter on there discussion (just a discussion, no action) that would have been shorter than this. I ended up redoing the idea since I realized its potential and came up with a outline that is 2,500 words long. To give you an idea of how long "The Truth" will be in its entirety, this chapter (without author notes) was around 3,400 words long. Section in the outline, 400 words. Now this chapter did set the whole thing up so it was a little bit longer due to that fact._

_Last, please enjoy as I take you through what "really happened" with the Uchiha's. I present "The Truth"_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, just this brain I have come to love._

* * *

"Sasuke's destiny..?" Naruto asked, his eyes widening. "What... do you mean..?"

"You heard me," Madara said, obviously getting pleasure from Naruto's confusion. "Everything your dear Sasuke has gone through was my doing."

Naruto stared at the ground, his eyes hot with the prospect of tears. What he was saying was ridiculous, border line crazy. Yet, something about Madara's words seemed to resonate deep inside Naruto.

"Don't listen to him Naruto," Kakashi asserted as he reached for a kunai. "I have something that will shut this guy up..."

Naruto grabbed Kakashi's wrist. His hand was shaking as he held it there. Kakashi stared at the young boy in amazement.

"No, I want to take care of this."

At that moment Kakashi could really see his old sensei in the boy, he was truly his son. Nodding, Kakashi let his arm fall to his side. Naruto stood still for a minute, before finally straightening back up. He set his eyes directly on Madara. A single tear rolled down the genin's face, dropping to the sand below.

"I want to hear what you have to say," Naruto said, his eyes set on Madara with deadly intent. "And if you lie... I'll know."

Orange shot across his upper eyelid as his blue eyes turned to gold. The other three stared at him in amazement. Sakura and Yamato watched in awe at the amount of chakra resonating from his body while Kakashi looked over Naruto's network in amazement. It was overflowing with energy that Kakashi had never witnessed before; so this was the power of Sage Mode. One thing puzzled the silver haired ninja though. Naruto had told them about what it took to go into Sage Mode, one step being that he must remain absolutely still. At no point had Kakashi noticed Naruto doing this.

"Wondering how I did it, huh?" Naruto asked out loud, interrupting Kakashi's train of thought.

There was silence among the three, including Kakashi who still couldn't quite conceive how he had gathered this much energy in such a short amount of time. It would have had to been done after his Nine-Tails chakra was sealed since that interrupted his natural flow of energy. Kakashi's thoughts, along with the silence was broken by Madara much to the their surprise.

"I'm actually a little curious myself," Madara asked in a suspicious tone. "I didn't notice any unusual chakra flow like I should of, whats your secret Nine-Tails?"

A slight smile sneaked across his face.

"You can thank that bastard Danzo for this. Him holding me hostage in the village gave me time to reach a new level with my sage mode," Naruto explained. "Standing here, I might not appear to be still when looking at me, but within every second there are milliseconds. Within those, even smaller amounts of time. For those tiny microseconds that are between my slightest of movements and invisible to the human eye, I am completely still. It is during these fragments of time that, little by little, I gather the energy needed. The Geezer Sage helped me come up with this technique, invisible to even the strongest dojutsu's. I can stay in sage mode as long as I can maintain my bodies focus on those microseconds."

Kakashi, Yamato and Sakura all stared at Naruto dumb founded. Not only had he been a part of creating this brilliant strategy, but he had explained it so well that it was hard to believe it was Naruto explicating the complicated procedure. Kakashi leaned over and whispered into Naruto's ear.

"Was that what I heard you reciting over and over again in the bathroom this morning?"

Naruto's face turned bright red as he slowly turned to Kakashi.

"You heard that?"

"No," Kakashi answered, tilting his head a little and smiling, the jonin held up a crumbled piece of paper. "But I found this in the bathroom waste basket. It says that same thing pretty much word for word, though I never thought it would have been yours."

"Why the fuck are you going through the trash you sick freak?"

"I thought Sakura might have written you a sensual love letter..."

"You no good perverted old man, I swear..."

Naruto was cut off mid rant by the ominous voice from behind the orange mask.

"Very impressive I must say, yet it won't matter as all I have to say is the truth."

Without warning, the landscape around them faded into total darkness, leaving the five ninjas with nothing visible but each other. Kakashi and Yamato drew their kunai's in defense, but Madara held up his hand.

"Don't worry, this isn't a genjutsu that can hurt you," He replied as the blackness was suddenly filled with different scenes that flashed before their eyes. "Before I get to the night of the massacre there are a few things you all should see first."

The scenes continued to flash all around the ninja, going way too fast for all but Kakashi to comprehend. This continued for a couple minutes before the scenes started to slow down, finally stopping in a dark alley in some city. The cool night air rushed around their bodies as madara held his hands out.

"Welcome to our first destination, any guesses to where we are?"

"What the fuck was that," Sakura asked ignoring his question, she was obviously dizzy from the flashing images. "Glad I'm not epileptic."

"It appears we were going back through time in his memories," Kakashi answered, glaring at Madara. "Calculating the time by how fast each was shown, using my Sharingan I estimate we are about sixteen and a half months back into his memories..."

Kakashi's eyes went from the fixed narrow glare he had on Madara to a wide surprise within an instant. He could feel it in the air, he knew where he was. He had been here, on this exact same night, so long ago.

"So it was you behind it," He said, glaring at the masked ninja. "You really were the one behind the Nine-Tails invasion almost seventeen years ago."

Yamato and Sakura looked from Kakashi to Naruto in surprise. Naruto however didn't waver as he had known this since his fight with Pain. Sakura stared at him, realizing this fact.

"BAM"

All that was seen was a blur of yellow and orange flying into the building wall. Falling towards the ground Naruto was caught and lifted back up to his feet by his collar. His angry attacker being no other then Sakura.

"So how long were you gonna keep this from me, huh? Thought it not important..."

"What genjutsu is this?" Kakashi questioned, interrupting her rant and drawing both of their attention back to the problem at hand.

"Oh I think you know," Madara said, his voice filled with evil content.

"All five senses, flawlessly under your control, this is Tsukuyomi isn't it?"

"Bing bing bing, we got our selves a winner."

"Which means we are totally defenseless and at your mercy doesn't it?" Kakashi questioned, though he already knew the answer.

"Couldn't we just attack the source of the genjutsu?" Yamato asked.

"And how would we do that," the silver haired jonin responded. "He isn't foolish enough to have the body we see be the real thing. Hell, we really are at his mercy."

"Well if it's a search we are after then I'm your man," Naruto exclaimed as he put his fingers together. "Shadow Clo..."

Kakashi grabbed Naruto's hands, stopping him from performing his signature move. He kept his eyes locked on Madara as he began to explain.

"It is no use, his power of genjutsu is so great not even I can sense anything of the outside world," He said, letting go of Naruto's hands. "If I had to guess, our real bodies aren't even in our dimension any more. He has our bodies in his own dimension."

Madara's laugh filled the air as he cackled in excitement.

"Sharingan Kakashi, you never cease to amaze me," He said. "I may have been wrong about you. Don't worry, like I said before I do not plan to harm a single hair on any of your fragile little bodies."

"Never mind that," Kakashi responded to Madara's compliment in frustration. "Show us what we want, I am growing tired of this game."

Madara exhaled a little disappointed that his fun was over. Turning, he signaled for the others to follow him down the alley.

"No one can see nor hear you within my memory," Madara explained. "Objects are solid but humans are not. You touch someone, your hand will go right through them. It is as if you are a ghost."

Naruto gulped nervously.

"I will be showing you a series of events that took place, most of which you know of," he paused for a second, almost as if for dramatical effect. "Yet the truth has remained hidden to all of you... until now."

They turned out onto a street, familiar to Naruto. It was the old Uchiha compound. Naruto had been through this part of the village many times. It had been abandoned for as long as he could remember. The differences in the two were quite obvious though, as the shops and houses here weren't boarded up and falling apart. There were also banners and flags lining the sidewalks, all bearing the Uchiha crest upon them.

"What are we doing at the Uchiha compound?" Yamato asked. "I thought the Uchiha's weren't seen that night."

"I have a feeling we are about to find out why," Kakashi said as two people about fifty yards away from them rounded the corner together.

It was a man and a woman, each talking quietly to each other. The man had brown hair down to his ears with features that Naruto could have swore he recognized from somewhere. The woman had beautiful black hair down past her shoulders.

"Those two are Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha," Kakashi said out loud.

"Oh, so those are Sasuke's parents?" Naruto asked in return, his eyes still in their golden hue.

"You idiot, just because their last name is Uchiha doesn't mean they are Sasuke's parents," Sakura answered in an annoyed tone.

"Oh, thats right," Naruto answered, smiling as he scratched the back of his head. "I knew that."

"Actually they are Sasuke's parents but more importantly some of the Uchiha's finest at the time. Fugaku was the clan leader at the time of the attack," Kakashi answered as he stepped to the side of the road seeing that Madara had done the same. "They weren't to be found on this night though, no one knows why."

Everyone but Naruto had stopped and was currently to the side of the street.

"See Sakura," Naruto said as he continued walking, totally oblivious to what was going on. "I knew that..."

"Who the hell are you," asked the unfamiliar man in a deep voice. "I can tell you don't belong here, you lost?"

"Oh, no I am just following them," Naruto answered. "I am act..."

"My, my, what ignorance," said a familiar voice from behind Naruto.

Spinning around, he saw a figure, face covered in a orange mask with flame like designs dancing across it. He recognized the figure, it was Madara.

"You should be bowing down to me, begging to kiss the ground at my feet."

Naruto looked at Madara's face, waving his hand back and forth, trying to get his attention.

"Hey guys I think there is something wrong with these three, they..."

"Like hell I will," rang the deep voice from behind Naruto. "Fireball jutsu!"

Naruto turned to see a huge wall of fire coming at him. Diving to the side he avoided it. Turning his head to see what had happened to Madara, he felt a sharp pain upside his head. Holding where he had been hit, he looked up to see Sakura standing over him, looking as angry as ever.

"What the hell was that?"

"You ask me, they just totally ignored me and started fighting. I had to dodge his attack somehow."

"Of course they ignored you, they are part of Madara's memory you idiot. And you didnt dodge the attack, it went right through you. It's an illusion remember?"

"Oh," Naruto replied in embarrassment, looking back at the fireball that still burned brightly where Madara had once stood.

Looking up and down the street, he saw the damage the attack had caused. The banners and flags that had been between the two combatants were burning and the road scorched, steaming from the heat. Looking back to the couple, he watched as the man turned back to his wife and hugged her. A chill entered Naruto's body though as a hole appeared behind the woman, creating a whirlpool like effect. To his horror the two of them were sucked in. First their heads, then chest, then legs and finally nothing. The hole disappeared and they vanished along with it. The fireball that had still been burning went out instantaneously.

"So thats where they were that night, huh?" Kakashi asked the present time Madara. "You were the reason they weren't fighting along side us, weren't you."

Madara smiled as the world around them dissolved and was once again filled with darkness. A square behind him appeared, shining with white light. Naruto realized it was a doorway. Getting to his feet, he followed the others through the opening.

The Leaf Village night turned into a weird surrounding. All around them was black, but the floor was white cubic prisms that seemed to float along some invisible plain. They were on a particularly high prism, overlooking what seemed to be a endless field of these shapes. Where the hell where they?

"Welcome to my inner world, where your bodies are currently resting. You won't run into them though, this is almost seventeen years ago, remember," Madara explained. "Though it looks the same now as you see here. That reminds me, if your interested wood user, I could use an interior decorator."

"Shut up and get on with it," Kakashi interjected, grabbing Yamato's wrist where Naruto saw wood tendrils had started to form.

"Fine, well here it is," he said pointing to his right while narrowing his eye to give Kakashi a good look.

The two ninja from before were there, the woman on her back and the man on his knees supporting her. After a couple minutes the man helped her back to her feet. They began to look around at the place they had been confined to. Naruto noticed some movement under him as the past Madara walked towards the two. The man followed suit and began walking towards his opponent till they were about twenty yards apart from each other. At this point the man started to yell at Madara who was just standing there, staring at the Uchiha leader.

"Who the fuck are you and where are we." his voiced filled with desperate anger as Madara just stood there, looking at the man. "You bastard!"

In a blind rage he began to run at madara. His right hand performed signs on its own as he reached back to cock it for a punch. His hand lit with fire as he threw a right cross with all his might.

"Burning Strike!"

Madara caught the hand before it hit his face, the flames shooting in different directions.

"You asked who I was?" Madara quietly questioned the frightened looking man as he began to remove his mask. "I am the whole reason you have the power that you do now."

The face of the man was drained of color as his eyes widened. Madara let go of his hand which fell effortlessly to his side. Naruto wanted to see what was under the mask, but Madara was facing the opposite way.

"You... it can't be... that isn't possible..," The man stuttered before yelling. "What the fuck is going on?"

It was silent as it seemed the past Madara had no intentions of answering his question. The silence was broken by the body of his wife falling to the floor behind him. Turning to see what was wrong, Madara quickly slipped his mask back on. Seeing his wife on the floor like that set of some switch in the mans mind. the man turned back to Madara, a calm trance-like expression filled his face. Kakashi realized what was going on, Fugaku was in a genjutsu himself. Being able to control two genjutsu's at a time, with that precision was quite a feat. He wasn't surprised though, knowing Madaras is probable capable of much greater things.

"She is in a harmless genjutsu that will keep her asleep till the morning," Madara informed him. "The information I am about to give you is only for your ears, you understand. As the leader of my clan, you are an important piece of the puzzle."

The man nodded his head in agreement.

"First off, I will be leaving after I am done with you, yet you will remain here till my job is complete. One of two things will happen. If the first does, it means I succeeded and you do not need to worry, I'll explain everything then. If I fail however, the following will go into effect for you as the clan from now on," Madara explained. "Under no circumstance may you tell anyone of what we talked about. If you even mention of my name, everything you hold dear to you will be destroyed. You disobey me, I will wipe out the entire clan in the blink of an eye. You understand?"

The clan leader shook his head, still with a zombie-like look Naruto thought.

"You know as well as I do that this clan was outdone by the Senju since the way beginning and that throughout the years we have fought them a countless number of times in endless battles; only to never come out on top. Tonight I will change that whether I fail or not. In case I do somehow fail, you and the Uchiha will be needed for my plan work. So if I do fall, you will be blamed for what happened. They will ask you where you were; simply answer by saying you were taking care of some business. No details no matter what. Shunned and isolated, your clan will grow uneasy, but do not do anything, stay stagnant. Let that anger grow into hate, yet let patience be your guide. In seven years I will return to lead a coup d'etat. I will become our leader once again and take the Leaf from under the damned Senju and crush every last one of them," Madara exclaimed holding his hand out and clinching it in a fist. "You are here for one reason Fugaku and that is so no Uchuiha lose there life to this attack. Without you calling upon their services, they can't help the village. Not only will I now have a much easier time taking over, I will not lose any men who will become part of my regime."

Masdara released hi genjutsu on the man and let him gain his composure for a second.

"Any questions?"

"Just one," said the mans voice, shaking in anger.

"What is it?"

"What do you plan to do tonight?"

Madara laughed as the two men made eye contact.

"Release the Kyubi," Madara said as the man's eyes grew wide in fear; but before he could open his mouth to object, Madara made his move.

"Tsukuyomi!"

The man fell to his back and started rolling around in pain, holding his face. His screams of horror and pain filled the room as it dissolved to black.

"Follow me, no questions," Madara said as he walked towards the white doorway.

The others followed, each ninja seemed to be trying to grasp what had just happened. As soon as Madara disappeared through the doorway, things began to slowly change. The darkness that had taken over the scene slowly turned white and the doorway was now slowly darkening to black. His comrades, whose movements had ceased were now frozen in position. Their former appearance were impossible to make out as their bodies had become nothing but a shadowy figure. Looking down Naruto stared at his body, exhaling in relief as he saw that he was in the clear. Suddenly he felt a presence behind him, followed by a familiar voice.

"Finally, it's just us two."

* * *

_There you go, that is the beginning. This might of seemed a little bland, but don't get disheartened, it picks up. The twist gets deeper, the steaks higher, other things you should imagine that will make this more appealing happen. So tell me what you think and please tell me your opinion of this direction. It is changing the story dramatically, but I think for the better. Now I want to know what you all think._


	16. The Truth Part 2 The Meeting

_Well here is the second part of "The Truth" which covers a whole lot of things. This is by far the longest chapter I have written and I hope you all enjoy. So without further adieu, I present the "The Truth Part 2 The Meeting." So sit back and enjoy as more of what really happened with the Uchiha unfolds._

_Also as many of you might have noticed, I changed the name of my story by dropping the last part. Don't worry, the plot is still the same, I did it for sequel reasons (If I continue with this story, which looks promising). I have an Idea for the others stories so the name change fits in with those and doesn't affect this story at all. Sorry if there was any confusion._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, not a single word of it, I swear._

* * *

Naruto could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he slowly turned around. He hadn't heard that voice in quite a while. Completing his one hundred and eighty degree turn, he came face to face with Sasuke's older brother: Itachi Uchiha.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm impressed, you didn't attack at the sight of me this time," said the tall figure, ignoring Naruto's question. "Seems you have matured since we last met."

"It won't stay that way if you don't answer me," Naruto threatened as his growing confusion turned to frustration. "Why are you here? And where are we anyways? Is this part of Madara's genjutsu?"

"Madara... so thats it. He has you in Tsukuyomi, huh?"

"Yeah, what of it? I still..."

"That's the reason I'm here."

Silence met Itachi's response as Naruto looked upon the ninja in obvious confusion. He had no idea what was going on. The place he was didn't feel strange, rather it was quite comforting. It was a whole lot different than the genjutsu Madara had trapped him in. And why was Itachi here all of a sudden? Where was everyone else? There was only one thing Naruto could think of that made sense.

"Am I dead?"

Itachi shook his head and sighed.

"No, Naruto, you are not dead. Look around, you know where we are, you have been here before."

Naruto looked around the area. The doorway and shadows of his comrades had disappeared, leaving nothing but white all around him. Looking closer, he realized there were some faint streaks of gold mixed into the bright background. The answer hit Naruto like one of Sakura's punches.

"We are in my subconscious, aren't we?" Naruto answered, almost screaming in excitement. "Like where I talked talked to my father."

"Yes we are."

"So that's why none of the others are here either. But, what are you doing here?"

"Does me forcing a crow down your throat really slip your mind that easily?"

"Oh, so this is your gift to me?"

"Hopefully yes, this will be all."

"I thought you said that the gift was meant for helping me with Sasuke, incase he ever attacked the Leaf?"

"You knowing the truth is vital for the outcome to your battle with Sasuke. Right now it seems almost certain he will be striking the village soon. You said you would protect the village without killing him, so if you plan on keeping your word then this is essential."

"Oh, I see... so Madara is lying to us?"

"No, what he speaks of is the truth, but you need to see it from both sides. There are somethings only I know and also a message I must give you."

"A message?"

"In time Naruto, now do you have anymore questions?"

"No, I think I'm good."

"Alright, lets begin."

The whiteness of Naruto's mind slowly began to fade away as Itachi's memories started to take over. Color from some faint surrounding started to swirl together, slowly setting into what Naruto could tell would be the scene they would be observing.

"My God, what is it with you Uchiha's and sharing your memories like this?" Naruto asked jokingly.

"Think this is bad, try sitting through an Uchiha family story night," Itachi replied back with a weak smile in what, as far as Naruto could tell, was the first joke he had ever heard from Itachi.

The scene around them turned into the streets of the Leaf Village, inside the Uchiha compound. Naruto had just seen this exact same street in Madara's memory, but this time things were different. It was a warm summer day as the area was bustling with life. People happily conversing with each other, kids chasing one another around, shops filled with customers browsing the merchandise. Naruto and Itachi walked down the sidewalk, slowly taking everything in. There was silence between the two as they took a few seconds to appreciate the rare opportunity of being invisible to the world around them. The silence continued until Naruto decided to break the tranquillity.

"So let me get this straight, I am in Madara's genjutsu, inside my own subconscious, where you are showing me your memories from your own jutsu?"

"Yes, that does about sum it up."

Naruto having finished back tracking his current state of being knew one thing; he didn't have a clue who was in control of what. Though there was nothing he could really do now except to go along with it.

"So what are you here to show me?"

"Look at all the people," Itachi answered. "They are all of the Uchiha clan, and this place, is like its own little country. We were happy, independent and free."

Itachi seemed to be staring at a group of kids as he talked, a little smile sneaking across his face. Naruto watched the kids too, seeing them throw their shurikens at the targets. They couldn't be older than six or seven, though one seemed to outshine the rest. His throws always seemed to hit their marks. Looking at Itachi he realized who the little kid was, but Itachi beat him to it.

"Yes, that was me, before the Nine-Tails attack. This place is the Uchiha compound before the attack."

The image faded and the scenery changed in a flash. It was a summer day again, but the atmosphere couldn't have been more different. There were no children running around, no socializing, just emptiness. ANBU were present, monitoring the area. Naruto also realized that the streets were different, this being the latter of the two Uchiha compounds. This one was located towards the corner of the village.

"This is after the attack," Itachi said. "The Leaf was monitoring us, watching our every move. We were under the surveillance of the ANBU. Everything, even our clan meetings were observed by them."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Well as you saw, Madara used my parents and made them look like the culprits. While they couldn't be proven guilty, the Leaf did everything in its power to make sure they wouldn't ever have the chance to do anything like that again. Moving us to the corner of the village, making it easier to watch us. We were slowly losing our freedom, yet we just sat there, a disgraced clan. There was only one way to regain our former glory, or so

I thought."

The picture around them quickly faded and another came up just as fast. A dark alleyway appeared under a full moon as three ninja's talked in their huddle. Their hushed whispers could barely be made out over the chilly night wind.

"We need to organize a revolt," the first ninja said to the other two who agreed, shaking their heads. "We have about a fourth of the Uchiha that are willing to rebel. If we can just get the clan to back our movement, we have a chance to take the Leaf under the Uchiha name."

Another ninja stepped into the light, revealing himself. Naruto instantly realized it was a younger Itachi.

"I will go to my father and tell him of this plan," the past Itachi announced. "Lets hope he sees it our way."

Naruto stared at the current Itachi as the other past ninja's scattered. The scene slowly faded to black as Naruto began to question Itachi.

"You wanted to take over the Leaf?"

"Not really. Having just become a member of the ANBU, I knew the village could easily overpower our clan. I thought if we rose up, the village would at least give us our freedoms we had before the attack and the Uchiha name would be restored to its former glory to keep from civil war. At the time I was all for the clan, not knowing that there was a reason we weren't acting."

The scene morphed into the inside of a home, a hallway slowly came into focus. At the end of the hallway, was an open door. The room beyond was filled with darkness. Naruto stared into the room as slowly, two figures became visible. He couldn't tell who they were or anything, just their outline. One was waving his arms all around in anger while the other was bowed down at his feet. Naruto realized there was no sound in this memory.

"My dad didn't see it my way," Itachi said as the scene once again faded away, leaving darkness. "There were a good number of members who wanted the clan to agree to a pact that the village had offered us. My father already knew of the plans to revolt, and said the clan was split almost half and half. He was disappointed that I had taken the side of weakness. I apologized, telling him I understood. He told me that he wasn't going to make a decision yet, but the pact was out of the question. We were the Uchiha after all and we wouldn't let the village have our clan."

The surroundings all of a sudden turned white again, Naruto knowing they were back in his own mind. He did however find this a weird place to stop, so Naruto questioned Itachi.

"So what happen next?"

"I expect Madara is about to show you. I will be with you throughout the rest of Madara's memories, though you will be the only one that can see me. Anything said to me will not be heard by the others and your actions towards me will not be seen by them. Understand?"

"I guess," Naruto lied as he had got the concept, but didn't really get how it would work.

Itachi seemed to read Naruto's mind.

"Just trust me, if you need to talk to me or ask a question just do it. I am going to be an image your inner self is portraying outside of your body. Whenever you acknowledge I am there, no matter if it is just to look at me or ask a question, I will make the experience we share be within yourself. It will appear to be outside of you though, as if we are having a regular conversation."

"All right," Naruto responded. "I think I get it."

The whiteness faded away as Naruto came back to Madara's genjutsu. He realized he was the only one who hadn't followed Madara through the door, so he quickly jogged into the white opening. He was instantly transported behind his friends, who seemed not to notice. He must of only been a bit behind them. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Itachi standing in his shadow. The surroundings was similar to when they were first under the genjutsu as scenes seemed to flash before them. Kakashi's sharingan was at work again, trying to follow each. Madara turned to the group.

"The next thing I will be showing you all is a little under seven years into the future..."

"Wait, what about that night?" Sakura interrupted. "What happened that night?"

"Ugh, well its obvious my plan was foiled," Madara said, making no attempt to hide his annoyance. "And the absence of Fugaku and Mikoto made them the ones to shoulder the burden. That it is pretty much it, besides the stuff you guys already know. Fourth Hokage gave his life to keep my plan from coming true, locked the demon fox into his own son, you get the point."

"His own son..." Sakura said in surprise, more to herself than anyone else.

She looked to Naruto who lowered his head. He hadn't told anyone, it was better the less people who knew. Truthfully though, he just didn't want to talk about it with anyone. It wasn't the fact he didn't want to be associated with his father, he was proud to be his son, he just didn't want all the questions and pity. He saw Sakura moved towards him. Shutting his eyes he prepared to be hit for leaving her out of something else. Instead of a sharp pain upside his head, he felt her warm hand slide into his as their fingers seemed to automatically intertwine. Her hands were so soft, a mystery to Naruto seeing the way she treats them in battle, though the gloves she wore probably helped. Looking up, she gave him a smile that seemed to wash all his uneasy feelings away. He could tell she had questions, yet she understood this wasn't the time.

The scenes slowed as Kakashi covered his sharingan. After a few moments of very slow scene changing, the surroundings finally sunk in on the targeted one. They were in a room, one that Naruto had never seen. The familiar view of the Leaf Village out the window however, told him it was some room within the Hokage's building. The room was a bit more festive than the Hokage's office though. It was spacious with a chandelier, a few decorative plants around the border, pictures of different sights within the village hanging on the perfectly painted red walls, white curtains complimenting the windows and finally, a rather sizable rectangular table in the middle. There were eleven chairs around the table, five to each side and a bigger one at the head. Overlooking the table was a raised platform where three rows of benches sat, each a little higher than the row before. Each row had a surface in front of them resembling a desk. Naruto realized that these were stands. They rose about five feet above the surface of the empty end of the table, parallel to the end with the big chair.

"This is the Hokage's meeting room," Madara explained. "This is used for negotiating with other villages and other important business of that sort. It is also used for matters between individuals in the village, the elders and the Hokage. The matter at hand that I will be showing you today is the fate of the Uchiha clan, at least as Fugaku would of intended to have it be."

The scene suddenly changed with people appearing almost instantaneously. Two ANBU members appeared on either side of the door. The table was filled also as the side closest to the door sat two figures that couldn't be made out with the groups current angle. Across from them were the three elders: Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. The big chair at the head was occupied by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. They all appeared as Naruto had remembered except for one, Danzo. Both his eyes were visible, his arm wasn't in a sling and he didn't have his usual cane. Madara signaled for the others to follow as he lead them to the stands. They each sat in the front row, Naruto sitting on the way end. Sakura sat next to him, still grasping his hand as he looked over his shoulder, Itachi still standing there. Naruto looked over to the people at the table, instantly realizing the other two he hadn't recognized earlier as Sasuke's parents. Fugaku looked as if he was about thirty years older than the last time Naruto had seen him. It wasn't so much the physical features, but his appearance brought one word to Naruto's mind; tired. Fugaku's eyes seemed dead to the blonde haired ninja, as if all life had been sucked out of them.

"This being your memory Madara, you would have to be here," Kakashi reasoned with the orange masked man who sat in the middle of the row behind the others. "And with security this tight, not even you could be hiding."

Naruto looked back to Itachi who pointed towards the door. Naruto looked at the ANBU member farthest from them. He had a cat shaped mask on, but the nose of the cat was a swirl. The detailing on the white mask, was orange.

"He wouldn't have to hide if he was one of those protecting the meeting," Naruto said aloud, pointing to the far ANBU. "He was right under their noses."

"Very observant Nine-Tails, you found me out," Madara said in a very curious tone.

One word described the look on the others face, dumbfounded. Naruto could feel his face begin to glow as he realized the unnecessary attention he had drawn to himself. Luckily a voice from the scene grabbed everyones attention, drawing it away from him.

"So Fugaku, what brings you to call this meeting with all of us?" The Hokage asked. "Is it about the pact we offered you?"

"No, I still do not feel that it is appropriate to the current circumstances of my clan."

"Really now," Koharu interjected in a voice of disappointment. "I don't see how us offering your clan its old compound back and no ANBU surveillance in exchange for all your clans business becoming public knowledge to be an unfair trade."

"The part where you all cut my balls off and spit in my face would probably be where I would have a problem."

"You better watch yourself, we wanted to offer less," Homaru said, raising his voice in anger. "The only reason the ANBU surveillance part is being offered is because the Third Hokage controls them. Us three elders were only going to give you the old compound back."

"You should also be more considerate seeing as you should be in jail for the Nine-Tails attack," Danzo said, narrowing his eyes at the clan leader. "Not to mention the rumors of your clan making alliances under the table with other villages. I swear, that damned sharingan of yours..."

"Enough Danzo," The Third Hokage interrupted. "The event on that tragic night was a natural disaster and nothing more, Fugaku and Mikoto's absence being an unfortunate coincidence. The rumors to their activity in relation to outside villages is nothing more than gossip."

Danzo sat back in his chair and rolled his eyes. The Third Hokage ignored the obvious signs of disrespect, as he had become accustom to them, and continued with his monologue.

"Now Fugaku, I know you wouldn't be here if it was just to tell me you rejected the pact. You already rejected it when it was first offered and it has only been kept on the table as a sign of our patience with your clan. We know your people are proud and this isn't easy for them. Yet, the only reason I can see for you to call this meeting is if you had finally accepted my offer, yet you say you have not. Please tell me why you have come here today then."

Fugaku and his wife joined hands. The clan leader shut his eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"I want to offer my own pact with the Hidden Leaf Village."

Silence followed his statement as the others at the table just stared at him. After a few moments of absolute quiet, Danzo broke the tranquility with his stifled laughter.

"This ought to be good."

Fugaku shot him a glance before continuing.

"What I want is the old compound back, a seat among the elders and ANBU bodyguards of the highest caliber for my family," Fugaku paused, seeing the faces stare at him in disbelief.

"Out of the question..." Danzo began to say, but Fugaku raised his voice and continued with his offer.

"In return, I offer you five things. First, all clan meetings to be supervised by an outside individual of your choice. Second, all confidential documents and records within the clan be made available for the Hokage's viewing. Third, strict tabs on each member and their activities. Fourth, opening the police force to other ninja beside the Uchiha. And finally, the entire Uchiha clan, including myself and my family, will undergo direct interrogation about any activity with anyone outside the village and their whereabouts on the night of the Nine-Tails attack."

The room was silent as the elders and Hokage sat in utter shock. Their mouths hung open in bewilderment at what the leader of the Hidden Leaf Village's most secretive clan had just said. He had literally just served the Uchiha clan to the village on a silver platter.

"Why in the world would he do that?" Sakura asked aloud.

"He most likely hopes the increased security will keep Madara away," Kakashi answered. "With these type of regulations, becoming an impostor among the Uchiha would be almost impossible. The position of elder would also provide him with additional protection."

Movement by the door caught Naruto's eyes. It wasn't Madara, who Naruto did note was shaking in what he believed could only be anger at this betrayal, but the other ninja. He had taken off, swiftly walking towards the table. Pulling off his bird-like mask as he stepped between Fugaku and his wife, he slammed it down, shattering the mask into many pieces. The familiar face of the ANBU member was revealed in its contorted anger.

"Itachi?" both Fugaku and Mikoto exclaimed at the same time.

"You fucking lied to me you worthless piece of shit," the enraged ninja yelled at his father. "You promised you wouldn't agree on a pact that would weaken the clan so much. Yet here you are, just shitting away the pride and joy of our ancestors."

Itachi's screams of outrage echoed through the room as Fugaku stood to face his son. Looking down at the enraged boy, Fugaku's eyes, the ones that had appeared dead to Naruto before, now sprang to life with vengeance.

"What the hell do you think you are doing," he screamed in return. "You are the most promising Uchiha in years and you are pulling this shit. What the hell has gotten into you?"

"What has gotten into me? You have the balls to ask what has gotten into me. Look in the fucking mirror you filthy hypocrite. What in the world are you doing?"

"Please. stop this you two," Mikoto yelled, tears rolling down her face.

Itachi, in his blind fury shoved his mother, forcing her to fall clumsily back into her chair, which then toppled over sending the woman sliding across the floor. Fugaku grabbed his son by the collar at this, causing both of their sharingans to activate. The fathers voice changed from pure anger to an almost frustrated plea.

"You have to understand, as clan leader I know more about the clan than you do. You have no idea what this clans purpose is and what dangers we face."

"Danger enough to totally give up everything we have," Itachi bellowed, not noticing Danzo make a signal with his hands. "You are nothing more than a fucking disgraced old man..."

Suddenly a kunai appeared at Itachi's throat as another ANBU member restrained the angry ninja. Coming to his senses Itachi looked around; three other ANBU members had surrounded the Hokage while there was one for each elder who guarded them. Another ANBU helped Mikoto up, her sharingan was also showing as well. Itachi retracted his in disgust.

"Get him out of here," Danzo said. "I will deal with his discipline later."

"Leave that to me Danzo," Fugaku said as his eyes had also returned to normal and now looked upon his son with contempt. "He is a dishonor to this clan and a rotten apple I will take care of."

Tears ran down Itachi's cheeks as he put his hands above his head, surrendering. Before turning to walk out he looked at his father and left him with a final comment.

"If this is what the clan is, then I am done. I refuse to see this as the powerful Uchiha Clan. From now on I will no longer be limited by this poor excuse of what you call a clan. I'll do whatever it takes to reach the height of my capacity."

With that the disgruntled teenager walked out the room and slammed the door behind him. The attendees at the meeting slowly got everything back to how it was as Naruto turned to the current Itachi.

"What the hell was that?"

"I was young and mad. I didn't know of what Madara had done, so to see the thing I was most proud of being handed over like that really set me off. It was from this day my father lost all faith in me and I in the clan."

"I bet you weren't the only one mad right? I mean you went out and told everyone about the agreement, right?"

"No, I was forced to not tell a soul. If it was discovered that I had told someone, I would have my status as a ninja stripped. Meanwhile, my father broke the news to the clan, but only mentioned what we gained. I was forced to stay out, growing bitter while everyone else saw my father as a hero. This wasn't the worst part though."

"It wasn't?"

"No, this gave someone the perfect opportunity to act from the shadows."

"Huh? Who?"

Itachi pointed back towards the table, Naruto following his finger.

"Just keep watching."

Everyone had returned to their positions they had been in before the outburst, only difference being that Fugaku had his arm over Mikoto, still shaken up from her son's abuse. Madara now remained the only ANBU guard at the door.

"So moving on from that interruption, I would like to know where this proposal came from," The Third Hokage asked Fugaku.

Fugaku took a deep breath, holding Mikoto who seemed to get more upset by this.

"The night of the Nine-Tails attack, I haven't exactly been honest with you all," the Uchiha said as the elders seemed to sit up in anticipation. "My wife and I were kidnapped that night by the man behind it all, Madara Uchiha."

Fugaku went on to tell of the night. The whole time Naruto watched the disguised Madara shaking in anger. To Naruto's surprise no one seemed to notice, besides Danzo who at one point looked over at Madara and shot him a wink. As the story went on, the elders seemed to become more engrossed with it. By the end of the story, the doubting faces of the elders had changed. Their was still signs of suspicion, but they believed it. The Hokage however was fully behind Fugaku.

"I agree with this compromise, as I am sure the other elders do," the Third Hokage announced as he looked to the other three, who all nodded in approval. "Please give me time to officially draft all this up, prepare the original compound for people to reside in it once again and make the necessary preparations for this new threat."

"That sounds fine to me," Fugaku replied. "How long till we sign?"

"A month."

"Works for me."

As everyone stood up and shook hands, the Hokage gave one last order.

"I do not want to cause any panic, so the matter of Madara stays between us, you understand?"

As they all agreed the present Madara walked past the group, ushering them to follow. They did so, following him into the hall where they saw his past self, still disguised, walking away. They followed him for a bit before Naruto's impatience finally forced him to say something.

"Why are we following him this time?"

Madara pointed as at that moment a door opened behind the past Madara. Out walked a hooded man who sped up until he was just a couple feet behind the disguised ninja. The group followed closely behind the man as he began to address the fake ANBU member.

"It is an honor to meet you, the famous Madara Uchiha," he said in a sincere voice. "I would of thought you to be dead and never believed it to be you, but with chakra this rich and a mind this full of knowledge, you must be him."

"Impressive," Madara responded to his follower. "You must have some sharingan to be able to deduce who I am and delve into my mind the way you did. I wouldn't mind adding your eyes to my collection. Perhaps there is still some talent among the elite of the Uchiha."

The hooded man laughed at this, seeming to take the whole situation as a game.

"You flatter me, but I am not the best. Their is one other in the current clan who surpasses me, even at his young age."

"Really, who?"

"You will find out soon enough."

"Well if you are going to be that way, then at least tell me who you are," Madara bargained.

A puff of smoke filled the air behind Madara as the shadow clone dissipated. Turning around, he waited for the smoke to clear. When it had, a piece of paper was revealed to have been left, folded up on the ground. The past Madara bent down, picking it up and unfolding it. He read the name that was written aloud.

"Shisui Uchiha."

* * *

_So there it is, left you with another cliff hanger (sort of). Things are starting to pick up. Though next chapter is where things get really wild as it will cover Shisui Uchiha and the Uchiha Massacre. I actually can't wait to write the next chapter, so if my teachers don't assign anything (doubtful) I should have it out soon._

_So leave me your reviews and tell me what you think so far. I respond to any I get._


	17. The Truth Part 3 The Massacre

_Sorry, two weeks is the longest I have taken and I am sorry but this chapter was a living Hell. Between school (ridiculously busy) and writers block, this was the hardest chapter to write so far. Not to mention that the content was challenging as this was a big part and part of the climax to this "The Truth" thing. I rewrote this about five times and hated everyone, so here is the one I hated the least, lol. I hope you enjoy it._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, till proven otherwise_.

* * *

The backdrop steadily dwindled away, little by little, as the world around Naruto began to recede. Sakura's subtle fingers seemed to evaporate as her tender hand was now replaced by the empty company of the air around his own. Shutting his eyes, the youthful ninja let himself slip into his own subconscious. Feeling the solace of his own world surround him, Naruto slowly opened his eyes. Itachi's somber expression was the first sight to greet Naruto upon his arrival.

"Within the next few weeks I became an outcast among our clan," Itachi said sadly as he seemed to stare at Naruto's feet. "My father's so called victory had the whole clan rallying for him while I, busy with my ANBU duties, became more and more distant from everyone around me. Even if I hadn't been forbidden to speak of the truth I doubt anyone would have believed me."

"What about Sasuke?" Naruto interjected.

"He was far too young to understand the politics of the situation."

"Oh... So anyways what are you going to show me?"

Naruto's joyous voice seemed to break Itachi's forlorn trance, who began to speak with a bit more optimism in his voice, as if to try to match his partner's high spirits.

"What I am about to show you is what happened with Shisui."

"But isn't Madara going to kill him?" Naruto interrupted with a puzzled look.

"No, Shisui beat him to it."

Before Naruto, who now appeared to be completely at a loss, could question Itachi's response, his personal world started to melt away. The white walls that encased the two ninjas died away as colors of blue and green began to materialize, encompassing the world around him. These colors leisurely settled into their allotted positions as the environment became clear to his bright blue eyes. The scene was exquisite as the clear sky ushered but a couple clouds about it and blew its gentle breeze across the boy's whiskered face. Green grass covered the rich soil in a thick blanket, shaded by the immense trees, teeming with leaves. A tranquil river flowed to the right of Naruto, whose eyes followed a lazy leaf as it journeyed down the water's soothing currents. The green petal was forgotten as it drifted under a little wooden bridge as the young ninja's eyes had caught sight of something much more interesting. There was a young man sitting on the opposite bank, fishing pole in hand and a few small pouches of ninja tools lying to the side of him. His dark eyes focused on his lure as his short dark unkempt hair swaying gently in the breeze. He had a flat nose and a serious look to him. Naruto turned to ask Itachi in confusion.

"Who is that?"

"That is Shisui Uchiha, he was the one in the hood," Itachi answered. "Don't let his looks fool you, he may have had a reputation among the clan as being very loyal, but he let his true side show around me."

Naruto, nodding his head and looked to Shisui but, his eyes didn't quite make it back to the ninja. Movement from the corner of Naruto's vision caught his attention as the past Itachi made his way towards Shisui, walking over the humble little bridge. He was in his ANBU uniform, a weird sight for Naruto.

"Ahhh, Itachi, I have been expecting you," said the man looking at his approaching visitor with a smile. "Come, sit. I imagine you are here about the recent changes within the clan. Feeling we are giving up too much?"

Itachi's eyes rose a bit as he looked at his fellow ninja in surprise. Shisui looked back to his lure, a sly smile still on his face. Itachi sat down beside him, joining his friend in staring at the lure. They sat there for a few seconds in silence, only the quiet flow of the river could be heard.

"Don't worry Itachi, I didn't enter your mind to find out," Shisui said, laughing at Itachi's look of relief. "I haven't been able to do that for some time now, well completely anyways, your Sharingan has been too strong and would detect my jutsu. No, you weren't the only one crashing that meeting."

Itachi looked at the smiling ninja in shock. Shisui took his friends expression as a sign to continue with what he had to say.

"I understand your frustration and even think that it's justified. But, there are things that you don't know, variables that are feeding into this decision."

"You sound like my father," Itachi replied.

"Well he is right about somethings, the same way as you are right about somethings," Shisui said, a smile forming across his face. "Especially about you putting your own level of power above the clan."

Itachi looked at his fellow clansmen in confusion as Shisui messed with the base of his fishing pole.

"Do you know what the Mangekyo Sharingan is?" Shisui asked.

"I have heard of it, but only rumors. All my father would say is that it takes great sacrifice to achieve."

"Well he is right. Sacrifice greater than what you have already made."

"What do you mean?"

"You already have forsaken the clan and become an outcast. Your father use to favor you, but now Sasuke has taken your place in his heart. I can see it in your eyes, the pain you are going through, but it's not near enough. Do you know what the purpose of the Uchiha is?"

"No, but what are you getting at?" Itachi questioned uncomfortably.

"While the pain you have isn't great enough, maybe mine is. Or, maybe losing a best friend could unlock the power needed to defend the clan you and I use to love."

"Use to..."

"Itachi... I'm sorry."

What happened next was so quick it made Naruto jump in surprise.

Shisui tossed his pole leisurely to Itachi. Then, without warning, disappeared only to reappear standing on the railing of the bridge, his Sharingan activated. A paper bomb burned on the end of the fishing pole as Itachi scrambled to jump away, just barely avoiding the pole. The explosion however sent him flying through the air, landing violently a few yards away. Shaking off his rough landing off, Itachi got to his feet, flashing his own Sharingan in anger.

"Trying to blow me up with a cheap trick like that and using your Body Flicker Technique to escape... What the hell was that for?"

"I need this power to protect our clan," A laughing Shisui announced, pulling out three kunai's with paper bombs attached to each one. "A best friend's death at the hands of the one who gave him that title should be enough to activate the Mangekyo."

Jumping from the bridge in a flurry of flips and turns, Shisui threw the kunai at his target. Itachi jumped high into the air, dodging the first two. His heart sank though as he realized he had fell for the trick. Shisui landed on the water's surface, one kunai still in hand. Itachi was in mid air and no way to dodge.

"Did you forget how to count Itachi-boy?" Shisui taunted as he threw the last one at the helpless Itachi.

A smile sneaked across the face of the airborne ninja as he quickly signed his jutsu.

"Water Style: Impenetrable Wall."

A wall of water rose from the river below Itachi, taking the explosion of the kunai. Before the smoke could even clear a giant fireball flew through the chaos and directly at Shisui. A look of surprise came from the ninja's face as he signed his own defense.

"Water Style: Cutter Stream."

Shisui's cheeks inflated, and then with a burst, he fired a stream of water from his mouth. The river water at his feet also formed streams that shot at the fireball also, circling around the main stream of water he had shot from his mouth. It collided with Itachi's attack in an explosion of steam. Breathing heavily, Shisui looked around, trying to find his opponent. The steam from the last attack had engulfed the air around him, making it almost impossible to see. Itachi watched the ninja's confusion from behind as he stood upside down on the bridges underside. Pulling a kunai he jumped at his opponent. As he closed in it seemed Shisui hadn't sensed him. Reaching back with his kunai in hand, Itachi stabbed at Shisui's back. The next thing Itachi knew he was skidding across the surface of the water, Shisui nowhere to be seen.

"Damn Body Flicker Technique," Itachi said to himself as he caught a sudden glimpse of Shisui out of his peripherals.

Swinging, he connected his kunai with Shisui's chest. The body however turned to water as the real Shisui delivered a kick to Itachi's face from the opposite side sending him flying out of the steam cloud and into a tree. Itachi was slow to get to his feet as the last attack had obviously had its desired effect. Staring into the steam cloud, he saw Shisui's outline. The steam slowly cleared as each ninja stared each other down, breathing heavily.

"Don't... underestimate me... dammit," Itachi said angrily through his heavy breaths.

Shisui smiled, then without warning charged at Itachi, kunai's in each hand. Itachi drew his own two and met him half way. A wild flurry of sparks flew as each of the two met their opponent's attacks with their own. Kunai to kunai, they fought viciously but, Shisui seemed to have the upper hand. He was overpowering Itachi's attacks and appeared to be on the verge of overtaking his friend. But, everything changed when in the middle of an Itachi thrust, Shisui simply dropped his kunai. It was too late for Itachi to stop as he drove his own kunai through his foe's sternum. He stood there, frozen, as blood began to pour from Shisui's chest. The rivers gentle flow accompanied with the two ninja's heavy breathing were all that were heard in the moments of silence. Finally Itachi couldn't take it anymore.

"Why?" He asked as tears began to fill his eyes. "Why did you let me win?"

Shisui dropped his other kunai and undid his ninja tool pouches, letting them drop to the ground. He slowly began to walk towards the river; the kunai in his chest slipping through his opponent's outstretched fingers.

"Dammit answer me!" Itachi yelled.

Shisui stood at the river's edge, staring at the gently current. He slowly turned around to face Itachi.

"Do you feel the pain?"

"What?" Itachi asked in confusion as tears began to stream down his face even harder.

"I asked if you feel the pain?"

"Yes dammit, I feel pain. And confusion... what the hell is going..."

"Good, now perhaps you can unlock the true power of the Sharingan now."

Silence again filled the air as Itachi stared at Shisui in disbelief.

"I don't get this... none of this makes any sense. You wanted the power Shisui. You wanted to save this clan."

"It was never my intention to obtain it. You are the one that can save this clan now. I needed you to kill me and the only way I knew you would is if you thought I was trying to kill you. Now they will ask questions and probably blame you. I need you to forge a suicide note for me. I need this to look like it was my doing."

"But the kunai... ANBU won't overlook such evidence. They will never believe you, of all people, would commit suicide."

Shisui actually laughed a bit at Itachi's comment, blood beginning to pour from the corners of his mouth.

"Look at the wrapping of the kunai handle," He instructed as Itachi looked at it in surprise. "What do you notice about them?"

"This is your kunai, but how?"

"I exchanged our pouches when we were sitting by the river. If I was you I would throw the pouch you are wearing now in the river too."

"I still don't..."

"Go to the Naka Shrine, there is a tablet there that you need to read," Shisui instructed as he began to waver. "There, it will explain everything. Good bye Itachi, watch out for Madara."

Shisui fell backwards into the pond as the picture started to fade. Naruto could feel his body coming back to his own world. The white surroundings filled his world as he began to think about what had just happened. Looking to Itachi he had questions he wanted answers to.

"So why didn't Shisui kill you for that power? What was in the Naka Shrine? How is this does this have to do with Madara?"

Itachi held up his hand, stopping Naruto's barrage of questions.

"He would have been killed by Madara anyways so he decided to make his death useful. He also tried to warn me of him, though I did not understand at that time. Now the other two will become apparent later, for now let's join the rest of the group."

Naruto's subconscious faded away as he felt the familiar sensation of Madara's genjutsu surround him. It was the same surroundings as before with scenes flashing by at high speeds. He felt a warm sensation in his hand as he realized Sakura's and his were still intertwined. Her being there next to him was a comforting sight after what he had just seen. Naruto let his mind wonder as he realized he had never noticed how much he liked Sakura with short hair. He couldn't say why, but it just looked so perfect on her. It seemed to go perfectly with her bright emerald eyes. Maybe it was due to the fact that she had only had her hair long for Sasuke, though Naruto doubted that was the reason.

"Are you okay Naruto?" Sakura's puzzled voice breaking his trance.

Looking around he realized everyone was looking at him. He also noticed that his hand was gripping hers extra tight. Letting go of Sakura's soft palm, he put his hands behind his head and laughed.

"Yeah I'm fine, I was just looking at your forehead," he announced happily.

As soon as the words had left his mouth he wished he could have taken them back. Before he could react a sharp pain was felt at the back of his head that sent him flying head first onto the floor. Getting back to his feet he began to apologize, but was cut off by Kakashi questioning Madara.

"So you were the one that killed Shisui?"

"No it was Itachi," Madara replied as the scenes slowed around them. "I was fortunate enough to find the body though."

The scenes slowly changed for a few moments before they finally stopped. The scenery morphed into dark woods, a full moon in the sky above. A cool breeze greeted the group as they looked around. Naruto recognized the woods to be ones just outside the Leaf Village.

"This," Madara announced. "Is the night of the Uchiha massacre."

A figure behind Madara drew everyone's attention. Naruto instantly recognized the man as Danzo, the same man from the meeting. The figure walked casually before all of a sudden stopping and turning his head to the right.

"Show yourself," he ordered into the shadows. "I know that you are there."

From behind a tree emerged a dark figure. Straining his eyes, Naruto could barely make out the outline of the individual.

"It's about time you noticed me," said a cold voice that instantly gave away the individuals identity. "I already dispatched of a couple ANBU members, I hope you don't mind."

"Well I was trying to ditch them, can't really get much privacy these days. Though you wouldn't know about that Madara now would you?"

A shrill laugh filled the air as Madara grabbed at his stomach. Shivers traveled down Naruto's spine at the sound of the evil cackle. For the first time Naruto felt he had heard Madara's real laugh. One filled with darkness and contempt.

"Seems Shisui wasn't the only one to sense me at the meeting after all. I thought I had done such a good job of hiding."

"You can cut the games and tell me your business here. I have a feeling this isn't a social visit."

"Straight to business, God you are no fun. Well anyways I have a proposal for you."

"A proposal?" Danzo questioned.

"Yes, an offer I feel you won't be able to refuse."

"What makes you say that?"

"I have a plan to control the world," Madara said in a casual voice. "And yada yada yada, you get the rest, but when I do get come to power I will need a Hokage. I know you have had your eye on the position and want it bad but lets face it, you won't be getting it anytime soon. Help me with my plan and I will destroy anyone who gets in your way."

Danzo let out a gruff laugh as he shook his head.

"You really think an offer like that will make me help someone like you? An offer that you can easily break at anytime. Maybe if I was to have something from you now then we could talk."

"I thought you might say that."

A whirlpool like pattern appeared in front of Danzo, spitting out an object. Danzo caught it and looked at the item in his hand with awe. He then looked back up at Madara, eyes wide.

"This is... it can't be."

"All yours, but only use one please. Save the other for your second in command."

"So that is what you want from me, well I am going to need a lot more to really help you if thats what you are after."

"By the end of tonight there will be plenty more to "aide" you. But, I would appreciate a little help if you know what I mean."

Danzo nodded his head in understanding and started flashing hand signs. A blue flame appeared at his fingertips which he touched to his palm. A symbol appeared on the palm of his hand.

"You better go Madara, all the ANBU members in the Hidden Leaf will be here within a few minutes."

The dark outline of Madara nodded his head as he disappeared into his whirlpool. The color from the scene slowly faded as everything turned black and white around Naruto, who looked to Itachi.

"While the others watch Madara slay most of my clan I have something else to show you," Itachi said to Naruto. "It is of much more importance, to me anyways."

Color rushed back to the surroundings as Danzo stood still for a few moments before speaking aloud.

"You can come out now, I am well aware you are there."

From a near tree dropped a figure. It stayed kneeled down for a moment before standing back up. Slowly walking towards Danzo, Naruto saw the past Itachi, clad in his ANBU gear.

"You activated the emergency signal Sir?"

"Don't take me for a fool Itachi, I know you heard the whole thing."

"That is true, and may I ask what that was about Sir?"

"That was me planning for the future though I don't know why you are here. Shouldn't you be back home, protecting everyone."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't his chakra feel familiar to you?" Danzo questioned.

"Yes, it did, but I do not know from where exactly."

"It was the meeting. He was disguised as the other ANBU."

"Disguised... wait what is going on Sir?"

"That is Madara Uchiha," Danzo said in a low voice, his eyes narrowing with pleasure. "And if you don't hurry back, he is going to destroy your whole clan."

Everything went black around Naruto instantly. It stayed pitch black for a few seconds before Kakashi, Yamato and Sakura came into view. Then Madara, followed by the scene around them slowly took shape. A room came into focus with a single window in it. Through that window shined the moon light onto two lifeless bodies, one laying atop the other. Above them stood the past Madara. Looking closely Naruto identified the two corpses as Sasuke's parents. A knot formed in the young ninja's stomach as he felt sick. This was the cause of Sasuke's pain, this is what his best friend claimed he would never understand. The door behind them was thrown open as the past Itachi walked in, slamming it behind him. He stopped at the doorway and looked at his parents corpses on the floor, tears running down his cheeks as he began to shake in anger. Looking up at Madara, his Sharingan activating, he yelled in anger.

"You!"

In a flash he recklessly lunged at Madara, attempting to cut him with his kunai. He was not successful though as he went right through Madara's body. Turning around to try again, Madara grabbed his wrist, shoving him against the wall.

"So this must be that one Shisui was talking about," Madara said, shaking his head in disappointment. "I thought you would be much more of a challenge."

Itachi struggled to get free as Madara pinned him to the wall. Hate filled Itachi's eyes as he began to yell.

"Shut up bastard, I will show you my true power."

Madara tilted his head in curiosity at the ninja's threat.

"Well if we are showing true powers I guess it's only fair to use mine."

In perfect unison both ninjas shut their eyes and yelled as they reopened them.

"Mangekyo Sharingan."

Everything around the group suddenly went white. Naruto looked to Itachi expecting him to have something to show him. Itachi however shook his head and pointed past the young ninja. Puzzled, Naruto followed his finger to Kakashi, Yamato and Sakura, who were all looking around with confused looks.

"What is this?" Naruto asked aloud.

Madara cleared his throat before he spoke to the confused group.

"This is a power of the Mangekyo that is even a mystery to me... The Mangekyo Link."

* * *

_So there it is, tell me what you all think please._

_I know Madara's and Danzo's conversation might have been confusing but it will make sense in time._

_Please review and tell me what you all think. This chapter has me more nervous than any of the ones before_ it.


End file.
